A TWENTY YEAR DELAY IN NEWTON’S PUBLISHING?

摘要

In his book review,1 Holstein repeatsnProfessor Nahin’s assertion2 of anwidely held opinion: The 20-year delaynbetween Newton’s annus mirabilis ofn1666 and the publication of the Principianin 1687 arose from Newton’s difficultynin proving that a uniform spherenattracts just as if its mass was concentratednat its center u0001Theorem LXXI,nProposition XXXI in the Principia,nand its corollaries; hereafter, “the shellntheorems.”u0002 This idea, originally proposednby the astronomer J. C. Adamsnand the mathematician J. W. L.nGlaisher, was given wide exposure inn1927 by Cajori.3