I recently read a 900 pager on Newton's life, which includes a lot of details about his mathematical accomplishments (book link: https://www.amazon.in/Never-Res

I recently read a 900 pager on Newton's life, which includes a lot of details about his mathematical accomplishments (book link: https://www.amazon.in/Never-Rest-Biography-Cambridge-Paperback/dp/0521274354 https://www.amazon.in/Never-Rest-Biography-Cambridge-Paperba...). Key things that stand out: + Deep scholarship: Learn from your predecessors as much as possible; pick up their techniques, at the same time be sceptical, do not believe much, even when you're learning/mastering techniques. Ex: Newton mastered Descartes work early in his career, used that mathematics to open up Calculus, but at later stage became disillusioned with the analytic method, and converted his thought into pure geometric methods. + Imitate the masters before you: Newton was really one of the deepest students of the ancients. He'd ferret out obscure passages, and use them to solve his problems. Ex: He knew the intricacies of the analysis/synthesis method from Pappus, which most people barely know in the depth he knew of them. + Dedication to truth, desiring certainty and taking nothing less. Insanely high standards.