Research Workshop
Sunday-Wednesday, June 17-20, 2007
At The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

The conference addresses a wide range of topics in Newtonian scholarship, focusing in particular on the less familiar Newton, the author of a multitude of texts he never published, very few of which have been published since. The subject matter of most of these texts is closer to theology and ancient history than to what we today consider as science, and yet, their exploration is vital to our understanding of one of the greatest scientists of all times.

The idea of having a Newton conference in Jerusalem is related to the fact that the National Library owns one of the most valuable Newtonian treasures – the Yahuda Collection. Although this collection has already received a considerable amount of attention by Newton scholars, its numerous manuscripts have by no means been fully explored. It is one of the purposes of our conference to enhance research into the Yahuda Collection. With this goal in view, an exhibition of manuscripts from the Collection and surrounding material will open at the National Library on June 17, 2007. Concurrent with the exhibition we have also initiated the scanning of the entire collection to enable its display on the web. This enterprise is a long-range contribution to the visibility and availability of this unique archive when the conference and exhibition are over.