Isaac newton, philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica, first edition (1687)

Newton's Principia is one of the great classics of the Scientific Revolution. Before 1687, natural philosophers were able to mathematize only parabolic motion caused by a constant force and circular uniform motion. Newton was pushing exact quantitative mathematization in fields such as the attraction exerted by extended bodies, the perturbed motions of many bodies in gravitational interaction, the motion in resisting media. The book delivered an awesome picture of the world, a world in which the same physical law governs celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The Principia was published in 1687, because of the financial and editorial support of Edmond Halley, and under the auspices of the Royal Society. However, at the end of the 18th century the Principia was read only by a handful of erudite historians and the Principia's mathematical methods ceased to be of interest for practising mathematicians.