Newton and the Netherlands: How Isaac Newton Was Fashioned in the Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic proved to be extremely receptive to the groundbreaking ideas of Isaac Newton (1643­-1727). Dutch scholars such as Willem Jacob Gravesande and Petrus van Musschenbroek played a crucial role in the dissemination of Newton’s work, not only in the Netherlands, but also in the rest of Europe. With Newton and the Netherlands, editors Eric Jorink and Ad Maas collect a variety of essays that seek to contextualize Newtonian ideas within Dutch intellectual history and examine Newton’s powerful influence on his contemporaries in the Netherlands.