Newton's Principia nearly went unpublished because of a book about fish.

1686 · 1687 · apart: 1 year

The Royal Society had spent its budget on a lavish History of Fishes that did not sell, so Edmond Halley paid for the Principia himself, and got his salary in copies of the fish book.

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The event

• Newton's Principia1687 · London. Isaac Newton published the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, setting out his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. One mechanics for heaven and Earth became the foundation of classical physics.

17th century

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