Another secret side of Newton
I have learnt from the “Science & Life” page of the Daily Star of December 27, 2011 that a recently discovered paper of Sir Isaac Newton revealed his secret interest in alchemy (of turning base metal into gold). It was an illegal research work under the then act, though.
I remember Stephen Hawking's assessment of Newton from his book “A Brief History of Time” that Newton was not a pleasant man. Newton clashed with the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who had earlier provided Newton with much-needed data for his book “Principia Mathematica”, surely the most influential book ever written in Physics. Another serious dispute arose with German Philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz. Both Leibniz and Newton had independently developed a branch of mathematics called Calculus, which underlies most of modern physics. Although we now know that Newton discovered calculus years before Leibniz, he published his work much later.
However, these incidents reminds us that Newton was a human being. But I wish if he had no such limitations in his life, it would be undoubtedly very nice like a few great scientists of the history.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments