This talk aims to explore various ways to connect traditional research in the history of philosophy and science with the use of digital tools. I focus on one case, which I consider a privileged example for the complex ways of knowledge transmission at the birth of the modern science. I discuss the case of a treatise on physics written by a Cartesian (Jacques Rohault), translated and annotated by a Newtonian (Samuel Clarke), and spread in several European universities (e.g., Cambridge). Tracing an accurate timeline is not the only challenge raised by this case. Equally important is to answer the question of how to evaluate the treatise in the context of dynamic changes in Clarke’s annotations. A traditional print edition of the treatise does not cope well with the number of early modern imprints of the treatise and a digital edition would be more meaningful. I explain how digital humanities can inform the discussion and provide new means to understand the spread of Cartesianism, raising fresh questions concerning translation, networks, and the diffusion of concepts.