physics4me

Groundbreaking: This annotated sketch of work on optics by Sir Isaac Newton is among 4,000 pages of his historic documents which have been put online by Cambridge University

Prized: Sir Isaac Newton's first edition copy of his Principia, widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science

The college notebook - used by Newton between 1664 and 1665 - contains notes from his reading on mathematics and geometry, showing particularly the influence of John Wallis and René Descartes

The college notebook also shows evidence of Newton's own mathematical thinking including his study of infinite series and development of binomial theorem and the evolution of the differential calculus

Newton's English is recognisably different from our own, but his maths - building on work done by Rene Descartes - is exactly the same as what mathematicians use today. Here, he describes the curve of a mathematical function

Newton's 'Waste Book' contains much of the mathematician's work on calculus - which he began in 1664 while away from Cambridge due to the plague