Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker was a British mathematician, physicist, historian of science, and philosopher who authored three titles that remain in circulation over a century after their initial publications.

Whittaker wrote three scientific treatises that were highly influential in their fields, A Course of Modern Analysis, Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, and The Calculus of Observations.

[4] In 1956, Gerald James Whitrow stated that two of these books, Modern Analysis and Analytical Dynamics, were not only required reading for British mathematicians but were regarded as fundamental components of their personal libraries.

[6][5][7] Due to the title's popularity, William Hunter McCrea predicted that future readers would have a hard time acknowledging it was the result of just "a few years at both ends of a career of the highest distinction in other pursuits.

[15] Whittaker's second major work, A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies, was first published in 1904[publication 5] and quickly became a classic textbook in its subject.

[publication 9] The book gives a detailed account of the history of electromagnetism and aether theories from René Descartes to Hendrik Lorentz and Albert Einstein, including the contributions of Hermann Minkowski and a chapter each devoted to Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.

The book was well received and is an authoritative reference work in the history of physics; the title established Whittaker as a respected historian of science.

[18] Pending the release of a second edition, the book remained out of print for many years, though it is now free to be reprinted in the United States, as it qualifies as public domain.

[30][31] At the end of his career, Whittaker was influenced by the philosophical ideas Eddington had advocated for and, in addition to editing the latter's Fundamental Theory, he published several articles and books exploring the topic.

[35] Kilmister later wrote a book on the topic, titled Eddington's search for a fundamental theory, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 1994,[36] and was itself reviewed by David Kaiser,[37] among others.

[32] The volume recounts the history of the theories of natural philosophy beginning with Euclid and stretching to Eddington, including the philosophical ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Einstein.

[44][45] Whittaker spoke at the annual Arthur Stanley Eddington Memorial Lecture in 1952, which was subsequently published by American Scientist[publication 19] and Cambridge University Press.

[publication 20] In the book's preface, Whittaker articulates Eddington's principle as "all the quantitative propositions of physics… may be deduced by logical reasoning from qualitative assertions".

[31] The work expounded on the principle, traced its development to Gottfried Leibniz, discussed its mathematical basis, and addresses potential objections.

[48] Among others, Arthur Mannering Tyndall,[49] Carl Eckart,[50] Victor Lenzen,[51] William Hunter McCrea,[18] Julius Sumner Miller,[52] John Lighton Synge,[53] and Stephen Toulmin[54] reviewed the book.