Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1776)
Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely recognised as one of the greatest mathematicians, physicists, and most influential scientists of all time. He was a key figure in the philosophic revolution known as the Enlightenment. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus.
In Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton used his mathematical description of gravity to derive Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes, and other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the Solar System’s heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles. Newton’s inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum. His work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a mathematician, Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalized the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.
Evidence of Asperger’s: He hated his stepfather saying “Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.” At school, he was motivated partly by a desire for revenge against a schoolyard bully, he became the top-ranked student, distinguishing himself mainly by building sundials and models of windmills.
He never married “He was never sensible to any passion, was not subject to the common frailties of mankind, nor had any commerce with women.” It is now a widespread belief that he died a virgin.
Religiously, he rejected the Trinity.
In his work, he was involved in two great disputes: the Liebniz controversy over who developed calculus as Newton published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a full account until 1704, while Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684 (Newton had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared controversy and criticism). In 1699, the Royal Society accused Leibniz of plagiarism, proclaimed that it was Newton who was the true discoverer and labelled Leibniz a fraud. Thus began the bitter controversy which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter’s death in 1716.
Hooke controversy regarding optics. In 1671, the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope and resulted in the work Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticized some of Newton’s ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. This stimulated Newton to work out a proof that the elliptical form of planetary orbits would result from a centripetal force inversely proportional to the square of the radius vector. But the two men remained generally on poor terms until Hooke’s death.
Newton had a close friendship with the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. Their relationship came to an abrupt and unexplained end in 1693, and at the same time Newton suffered a nervous breakdown which included sending wild accusatory letters to his friends Samuel Pepys and John Locke—his note to the latter included the charge that Locke “endeavoured to embroil me with woemen”.
In 2015, Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics, called Newton “a nasty antagonist” and “a bad man to have as an enemy”. He particularly noted Newton’s attitude towards Robert Hooke and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
It has been suggested from these and other traits, and his profound power of concentration, that Newton may have had a form of high-functioning autism, known as Asperger’s syndrome.
Life outside mathematics. Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to take holy orders in the Church of England. Politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–1690 and 1701–1702. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1699) and Master (1699–1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).
Early life. Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. His father, also named Isaac Newton, had died three months before. Born prematurely, Newton was a small child; his mother reportedly said that he could have fit inside a quart mug. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabas Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother. Newton disliked his stepfather and maintained some enmity towards his mother for marrying him, as revealed by this entry in a list of sins committed up to the age of 19: “Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.”
Education. From the age of about twelve, until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King’s School, Grantham, which taught Latin and Greek and probably imparted a significant foundation of mathematics. He was removed from school and returned to Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth by October 1659. His mother, widowed for the second time, attempted to make him a farmer, an occupation he hated. Henry Stokes, a master at The King’s School, persuaded his mother to send him back to school. Motivated partly by a desire for revenge against a schoolyard bully, he became the top-ranked student, distinguishing himself mainly by building sundials and models of windmills.
In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. He started as a subsizar—paying his way by performing valet’s duties—until he was awarded a scholarship in 1664, guaranteeing him four more years until he could get his MA. In 1665, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became calculus. Although he had been undistinguished as a Cambridge student. Newton’s private studies over the subsequent two years saw the development of his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation.
Work. In April 1667, he returned to Cambridge and in October was elected as a fellow of Trinity. Fellows were required to become ordained priests, although this was not enforced in the restoration years and an assertion of conformity to the Church of England was sufficient. However, by 1675 the issue could not be avoided and by then his unconventional views stood in the way. Nevertheless, Newton managed to avoid it using special permission from Charles II.
Newton’s work has been said, “to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then studied”. in June 1669, he was identified as the work “of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things”.
Leibniz controversy. Newton later became involved in a dispute with Leibniz over priority in the development of calculus. Most modern historians believe that Newton and Leibniz developed calculus independently, although with very different mathematical notations. Occasionally it has been suggested that Newton published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a full account until 1704, while Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684.
Newton had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared controversy and criticism.
Starting in 1699, other members of the Royal Society accused Leibniz of plagiarism. The dispute then broke out in full force in 1711 when the Royal Society proclaimed in a study that it was Newton who was the true discoverer and labelled Leibniz a fraud. Thus began the bitter controversy which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter’s death in 1716.
Hooke controversy regarding optics. In 1671, the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope and resulted in the work Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticized some of Newton’s ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. This stimulated Newton to work out a proof that the elliptical form of planetary orbits would result from a centripetal force inversely proportional to the square of the radius vector. But the two men remained generally on poor terms until Hooke’s death.
Religion. In the 1690s, Newton wrote several religious tracts dealing with the literal and symbolic interpretation of the Bible. He disputed the fidelity of 1 John 5:7—the Johannine Comma—and its fidelity to the original manuscripts of the New Testament.
Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England for Cambridge University in 1689 and 1701, but according to some accounts, his only comments were to complain about a cold draught in the chamber and request that the window be closed.
Royal Mint. Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696. He took charge of England’s great recoining, and trod on the toes of Lord Lucas, Governor of the Tower. He retired from his Cambridge duties in 1701 and exercised his authority to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters. Newton estimated that 20 percent of the coins taken in during the Great Recoinage of 1696 were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was high treason, punishable by the felon being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Despite this, convicting even the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult, however, Newton proved equal to the task.
Disguised as a habitué of bars and taverns, he gathered much of that evidence himself. Newton successfully prosecuted 28 coiners.
Toward the end of his life, Newton took up residence at Cranbury Park, near Winchester with his niece and her husband, until his death in 1727. His half-niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt, served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London; he was her “very loving Uncle”, according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox.
Personal relations
Although it was claimed that he was once engaged, Newton never married. “He was never sensible to any passion, was not subject to the common frailties of mankind, nor had any commerce with women—a circumstance which was assured me by the physician and surgeon who attended him in his last moments”. This now-widespread belief that he died a virgin has been commented on.
Newton had a close friendship with the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. Their relationship came to an abrupt and unexplained end in 1693, and at the same time Newton suffered a nervous breakdown which included sending wild accusatory letters to his friends Samuel Pepys and John Locke—his note to the latter included the charge that Locke “endeavoured to embroil me with woemen”.
In 2015, Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics, called Newton “a nasty antagonist” and “a bad man to have as an enemy”. He particularly noted Newton’s attitude towards Robert Hooke and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
It has been suggested from these and other traits, and his profound power of concentration, that Newton may have had a form of high-functioning autism, known as Asperger’s syndrome.
Death. Newton died in his sleep in London on 20 March 1727 and his body was buried in Westminster Abbey. A bachelor, he had divested much of his estate to relatives during his last years and died intestate. His papers went to John Conduitt and Catherine Barton. After his death, Newton’s hair was examined and found to contain mercury, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton’s eccentricity in late life.
After death
Fame. The mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived.
Newton was relatively modest about his achievements, writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in February 1676, stating “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”. Two writers think that the above quotation, written at a time when Newton and Hooke were in dispute over optical discoveries, was an oblique attack on Hooke (said to have been short and hunchbacked), rather than—or in addition to—a statement of modesty. On the other hand, the widely known proverb about standing on the shoulders of giants, published among others by seventeenth-century poet George Herbert (a former orator of the University of Cambridge and fellow of Trinity College) in his Jacula Prudentum (1651), had as its main point that “a dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees farther of the two”, and so its effect as an analogy would place Newton himself rather than Hooke as the ‘dwarf’.
In a later memoir, Newton wrote: I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
In 1816, a tooth said to have belonged to Newton was sold for £730 (US$3,633) in London to an aristocrat who had it set in a ring. Guinness World Records 2002 classified it as the most valuable tooth valued at approximately £25,000 (US$35,700) in late 2001. Who bought it and who currently has it has not been disclosed.
Albert Einstein kept a picture of Newton on his study wall alongside the ones of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. In a 2005 survey of members of Britain’s Royal Society (formerly headed by Newton) asking who had the greater effect on the history of science, Newton or Einstein, the members deemed Newton to have made the greater overall contribution. In 1999, an opinion poll of 100 of the day’s leading physicists voted Einstein the “greatest physicist ever,” with Newton the runner-up, while a parallel survey of rank-and-file physicists by the site PhysicsWeb gave the top spot to Newton.
The SI-derived unit of force is named the Newton in his honour.
Religious views. Although born into an Anglican family, by his thirties Newton held the Christian faith that, had it has been made public, would not have been considered orthodox by mainstream Christianity, with one historian labelling him a heretic.
By 1672, he had started to record his theological researches in notebooks which he showed to no one and which have only recently been examined. They demonstrate extensive knowledge of early Church writings and show that in the conflict between Athanasius and Arius which defined the Creed, he took the side of Arius, the loser, who rejected the conventional view of the Trinity. Newton “recognized Christ as a divine mediator between God and man, who was subordinate to the Father who created him.” He was especially interested in prophecy, but for him, “the great apostasy was trinitarianism.”
Newton tried unsuccessfully to obtain one of the two fellowships that exempted the holder from the ordination requirement. At the last moment in 1675, he received a dispensation from the government that excused him and all future holders of the Lucasian chair.
In Newton’s eyes, worshipping Christ as God was idolatry, to him the fundamental sin. In 1999, historian Stephen D. Snobelen wrote, “Isaac Newton was a heretic. But … he never made a public declaration of his private faith—which the orthodox would have deemed extremely radical. He hid his faith so well that scholars are still unravelling his personal beliefs.”