This is a great story indeed, but I have to disagree with it in one respect. I do not think that Newton was the "last of the magicians" because I don't think y

This is a great story indeed, but I have to disagree with it in one respect. I do not think that Newton was the "last of the magicians" because I don't think you have to believe in a personal god in order to have the same sense that creation is a meaningful mystery with "clues laid about the world". Seeing "God" as an impersonal force or schema underlying existence (Spinoza's God) can have an equivalent effect on the inquisitive mind, and many great scientists to this day are driven to much the same treasure hunt as Newton was. It is very much in this sense that Einstein said famously that "God does not play dice". The truth is that even today Existence remains a great mystery... the most fundamental questions, such as the meaning of quantum indeterminacy, whether or not infinity is a physical quantity, the ultimate nature of space and time, all remain as mysterious as they ever were, and anyone who is driven to explore them is thus as much a magician as Newton was.