barmar Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 For those of us who prefer science to religion, December 25 is also Isaac Newton's birthday. Today is the 370's anniversary of his birth. Ironically, Newton did believe in God, but most scholars believe he didn't believe in the Christian Trinity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Religious_views Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr1303 Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 Shame I couldn't +1 this post. Happy Newtonmass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted December 27, 2012 Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 From the cited Wik article: 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.[/Quote] Good move, Isaac baby. I always knew you were smart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USViking Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Another irony is that Newton was an alchemist! He appears to have spent about 1/3 1/3 1/3 of the height of his intellectually productive life on real math & science, on theology, and on alchemy, leaving 1000s of pages MS in the latter two. Then in the 1690s he was appointed to leadership of the national mint where he managed a recoinage and anticounterfeiting activity, on some occasions literally going undercover in person as a detective (several suspects of his investigations went to the gallows). Getting back to the alchemy, it is a real shame Newton failed to apply his unique abilities tothe real science of chemistry, which was just finding itself through the work of Boyle and others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Yeah, if he hadn't been so superstitious, he might have accomplished something with his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USViking Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 If he hadn't been so superstitious, he would have accomplished even more with his life, and there was much that might have been accomplished. For example, Newton's contemporary van Leeuwenhoek turned the magnifying apparatus inward, toward the very small, and created microbiology in the process. If Newton, who also ground his own lenses, had done the same, and applied his greater intellect to what was revealed, who knows, perhaps the Germ Theory of Disease would have been developed far in advance of when it actually was, with countless more life prolonged as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAlan Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 England was still on the Julian calendar at the time of Newton's birth, when there was a 10 day difference from the Gregorian. So arguably today's the day to celebrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.