Force, deflection, and time: Proposition VI of Newton's \textit{Principia} (Q997152)

Newton's \textit{Principia}, Book I, Proposition VI concerns the centripetal force. The author studies the evolution of the proposition and its corrolaries. He criticizes two recent interpretations by well-known scholars, \textit{S. Chandrasekhar} [Newton's \(Principia\) for the common reader. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1995; Zbl 0821.01012)] and \textit{I. B. Cohen} [The \textit{Principia}: mathematical principles of natural philosophy. Newly translated from the 3rd edition (1726) by I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman, assisted by Julia Budenz. Preceded by `A guide to Newton's \textit{Principia}' by I. Bernard Cohen. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (1999; Zbl 0961.01034)]. The author then focuses on his own interpretation by means of two different reconstructions of the proof of Proposition VI. He concludes with a discussion of the validity of the proof of the first corollary.