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Isaac Newton spent most of his life pursuing alchemy and obscure theological ideas, and found it a real nuisance whenever anyone pestered him about math or phys

Isaac Newton spent most of his life pursuing alchemy and obscure theological ideas, and found it a real nuisance whenever anyone pestered him about math or physics.

jeromebaek 7y ago
source?
- DavidSJ 7y ago
  _Never At Rest_ by Richard Westfall is the authoritative biography on him.
DEADBEEFC0FFEE 7y ago
That's a great example. He also spent a long time at The Mint.
lonelappde 7y ago
Not true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
- DavidSJ 7y ago
  Can you expand on why you think his Wikipedia article refutes what I said?
  - mkl 7y ago
    (Not OP) I don't think it does. It backs you up (barring quibbles on what you mean by "most"; years active or hours spent): "Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology".
- armitron 7y ago
  Very true. Newton was an alchemist first and foremost and spent the vast majority of his time practicing alchemy rather than -what today one would call- science. One has to wonder what private reasons/results a genius of his magnitude had, in order to do that. This little known fact is so embarrassing to some institutions [2], that they made up a new word "chymistry" in order to further obscure the issue and not outright admit the obvious. [1] http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/newtons-works/alchemical http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/newtons-works/alchem... [2] https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/project/about.do https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/project/about.do [3] https://www.amazon.com/Newton-Alchemist-Science-Enigma-Natures/dp/0691174873/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=newton+alchemy&qid=1573708755&sr=8-2 https://www.amazon.com/Newton-Alchemist-Science-Enigma-Natur...
  - derefr 7y ago
    > One has to wonder what private reasons/results a genius of his magnitude had, in order to do that. Is there a reason to expect that someone who wanted to investigate the laws of the composition and reactivity of matter, in the late 1600s/early 1700s, would end up studying chemistry rather than alchemy? Sure, Boyle had introduced “chemistry” as an idea in 1661 (before Newton was born), but I imagine that alchemy would still be quite active in the late 1600s as an academic “field”, with many contributors already late in their careers studying it; whereas chemistry would have been just getting off the ground, without many potential collaborators.
    - armitron 7y ago
      Alchemy was never an academic field. It was a tradition veiled in secrecy, requiring years of private work and knowledge transmission through strict and very narrow (typically teacher-student) channels. Your point has been brought up before -usually as an attempt by established institutions to whitewash and explain away Newton's idiosyncrasies- but there is no evidence whatsoever to back it. On the contrary, what we know (and there is a lot we do know thanks to his writings) about Newton and alchemy absolutely indicates him being immersed in the Hermetic worldview and alchemical paradigm. Clearly, Newton was practicing alchemy not as a way to look for novel techniques or as a way to bridge the old and new worlds together, but primarily because he was a devout believer. Newton -a profound genius- stood at the threshold of two worlds colliding. He was also a groundbreaking scientist in optics/mechanics/mathematics. He was aware of Boyle's chemical research. Knowing all of that, he _absolutely_ chose to dedicate his life to alchemy. That is immensely interesting. "Much of Newton's writing on alchemy may have been lost in a fire in his laboratory, so the true extent of his work in this area may have been larger than is currently known. Newton also suffered a nervous breakdown during his period of alchemical work, possibly due to some form of chemical poisoning (perhaps from mercury, lead, or some other substance)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton%27s_occult_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton%27s_occult_studie...
keanzu 7y ago
Isaac Newton is considered by some to be the greatest mathematician of all time and is regarded as the "Father of Calculus". "Taking mathematics from the beginning of the world to the time when Newton lived, what he has done is much the better part." - Gottfried Leibniz http://www.fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm http://www.fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm
- armitron 7y ago
  "Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago. Isaac Newton, a posthumous child bom with no father on Christmas Day, 1642, was the last wonderchild to whom the Magi could do sincere and appropriate homage."
- knowThySelfx 7y ago
  "Researchers in England may have finally settled the centuries-old debate over who gets credit for the creation of calculus. For years, English scientist Isaac Newton and German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz both claimed credit for inventing the mathematical system sometime around the end of the seventeenth century. Now, a team from the universities of Manchester and Exeter says it knows where the true credit lies — and it's with someone else completely. The "Kerala school," a little-known group of scholars and mathematicians in fourteenth century India, identified the "infinite series" — one of the basic components of calculus — around 1350." https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/calculus-created-in-india-250-years-before-newton-study-1.632433 https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/calculus-created-in-india... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_School_of_Astronomy_and_Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_School_of_Astronomy_and...
  - mkl 7y ago
    That story's by non-experts and sounds like it's based on a press release. There were basic components of calculus well before that too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus However, calculus proper (derivatives and integrals of general functions, and the connections between them) did not exist until Newton and Leibniz. Other mathematicians made important steps towards it earlier in the 1600s, and if Newton and Leibniz had not existed, others would have figured it out around the same time.

Isaac Newton spent most of his life pursuing alchemy and obscure theological ideas, and found it a real nuisance whenever anyone pestered him about math or physics.

jeromebaek 7y ago

source?

DavidSJ 7y ago
_Never At Rest_ by Richard Westfall is the authoritative biography on him.

DEADBEEFC0FFEE 7y ago

That's a great example. He also spent a long time at The Mint.

lonelappde 7y ago

Not true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

DavidSJ 7y ago
Can you expand on why you think his Wikipedia article refutes what I said?
- mkl 7y ago
  (Not OP) I don't think it does. It backs you up (barring quibbles on what you mean by "most"; years active or hours spent): "Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology".
armitron 7y ago
Very true. Newton was an alchemist first and foremost and spent the vast majority of his time practicing alchemy rather than -what today one would call- science. One has to wonder what private reasons/results a genius of his magnitude had, in order to do that. This little known fact is so embarrassing to some institutions [2], that they made up a new word "chymistry" in order to further obscure the issue and not outright admit the obvious. [1] http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/newtons-works/alchemical http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/newtons-works/alchem... [2] https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/project/about.do https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/project/about.do [3] https://www.amazon.com/Newton-Alchemist-Science-Enigma-Natures/dp/0691174873/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=newton+alchemy&qid=1573708755&sr=8-2 https://www.amazon.com/Newton-Alchemist-Science-Enigma-Natur...
- derefr 7y ago
  > One has to wonder what private reasons/results a genius of his magnitude had, in order to do that. Is there a reason to expect that someone who wanted to investigate the laws of the composition and reactivity of matter, in the late 1600s/early 1700s, would end up studying chemistry rather than alchemy? Sure, Boyle had introduced “chemistry” as an idea in 1661 (before Newton was born), but I imagine that alchemy would still be quite active in the late 1600s as an academic “field”, with many contributors already late in their careers studying it; whereas chemistry would have been just getting off the ground, without many potential collaborators.
  - armitron 7y ago
    Alchemy was never an academic field. It was a tradition veiled in secrecy, requiring years of private work and knowledge transmission through strict and very narrow (typically teacher-student) channels. Your point has been brought up before -usually as an attempt by established institutions to whitewash and explain away Newton's idiosyncrasies- but there is no evidence whatsoever to back it. On the contrary, what we know (and there is a lot we do know thanks to his writings) about Newton and alchemy absolutely indicates him being immersed in the Hermetic worldview and alchemical paradigm. Clearly, Newton was practicing alchemy not as a way to look for novel techniques or as a way to bridge the old and new worlds together, but primarily because he was a devout believer. Newton -a profound genius- stood at the threshold of two worlds colliding. He was also a groundbreaking scientist in optics/mechanics/mathematics. He was aware of Boyle's chemical research. Knowing all of that, he _absolutely_ chose to dedicate his life to alchemy. That is immensely interesting. "Much of Newton's writing on alchemy may have been lost in a fire in his laboratory, so the true extent of his work in this area may have been larger than is currently known. Newton also suffered a nervous breakdown during his period of alchemical work, possibly due to some form of chemical poisoning (perhaps from mercury, lead, or some other substance)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton%27s_occult_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton%27s_occult_studie...

keanzu 7y ago

Isaac Newton is considered by some to be the greatest mathematician of all time and is regarded as the "Father of Calculus". "Taking mathematics from the beginning of the world to the time when Newton lived, what he has done is much the better part." - Gottfried Leibniz http://www.fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm http://www.fabpedigree.com/james/mathmen.htm

armitron 7y ago
"Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago. Isaac Newton, a posthumous child bom with no father on Christmas Day, 1642, was the last wonderchild to whom the Magi could do sincere and appropriate homage."
knowThySelfx 7y ago
"Researchers in England may have finally settled the centuries-old debate over who gets credit for the creation of calculus. For years, English scientist Isaac Newton and German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz both claimed credit for inventing the mathematical system sometime around the end of the seventeenth century. Now, a team from the universities of Manchester and Exeter says it knows where the true credit lies — and it's with someone else completely. The "Kerala school," a little-known group of scholars and mathematicians in fourteenth century India, identified the "infinite series" — one of the basic components of calculus — around 1350." https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/calculus-created-in-india-250-years-before-newton-study-1.632433 https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/calculus-created-in-india... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_School_of_Astronomy_and_Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_School_of_Astronomy_and...
- mkl 7y ago
  That story's by non-experts and sounds like it's based on a press release. There were basic components of calculus well before that too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus However, calculus proper (derivatives and integrals of general functions, and the connections between them) did not exist until Newton and Leibniz. Other mathematicians made important steps towards it earlier in the 1600s, and if Newton and Leibniz had not existed, others would have figured it out around the same time.