Robert ASF. wrote:

Michael Davis wrote:

snipo

Newton is a paradox. He is both one of the first true scientists, and one of the last sorcerers.

    One of the more interesting theory i have read about Newton was that his alchemy experiments later on in life were using mercury. It is claims that a lock of his hair was tested and found to have extremely high levels of it. I remember reading that recently, as early as this week?

Interesting. Good thing he didn't poison himself until late in life, after making his great contributions to science.

He dabbled in mysticism and the occult, held some rather unconventional views of the "Holy Trinity" that probably would have gotten him into lots of trouble if he had published them in his lifetime, never took holy orders as was customary when being appointed Lucasian chair of Trinity College, and refused his final communion. He seemed to have trouble with the "party line" according to the Anglican Church, and to be casting around, looking for something he could believe in.

    Yes, he may have problems with the doctrine of the Anglican Church, but then who doesn't :-)

Oh, I forgot. You're part of The Commonwealth too.

However he was very much devoted to a "G*d" and study of the Bible.

Real science can be done by religious people, as long as they don't try to use science to try to validate their religious beliefs. That's the road to kookery.

My impression of Newton has always been one of a man who is confused and unsure about his beliefs. Fanatics are always certain they know the absolute truth. I can't agree that Newton was a fanatic.

    I think that we have been looking at this from different time frames, to wit, if you look he is rather flighty, he goes from gravity to optics, to alchemy to theology etc. But in each case while doing his work he was fanatical about. I offer two pieces of evidence to consider: 1) when he discovered calculas but published it after Leibniz's own discovery of it, Newton attacked Leibniz even after his death. Now as you know a fanatic never let anything drop. 2) If the story is true that Newton's mercury levels were very high due to his alchemy, one of the symptons of mercury poisoning is such obsessive behavior. As we all know, obsessive behavior is another sign of a fanatic.

Perhaps. However, we shouldn't forget though that Newton lived in a time and place when one *had* to participate in the state religion to get ahead. There were simply no opportunities available unless you were part of that system.

I often wonder what other areas he may have turned his intellect to if he hadn't been required by his society to be a theologian, as well as a scientist.

    I should note that there are other examples of Newtons behavior that border on borishness in the extreme including one funny incident i would like to share.

begin insert

    "If i have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of
giants."

    I think most people are unfamiliar with the circumstances and
history around this quote. It was in a letter to a misshapened dwarf named
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) by Issac Newton (1642-1727) to be an insult to
Hooke's "of middling stature, something crooked, pale faced... head is
large, eyes poping."

    It was written on Feb. 5, 1675, as Newton defended himself against
Hooke's claims of discoveries in optics and calculus. Newton, himself
stole the line from a then famous work called Anatomy of Melancholy.

    Essential, what Newton meant to say to Hooke was that Newton
learned only from his great predecessors and not (Hooke) some dwarf.

    Cf: Richard Zacks, An Underground Education, Double day, 1997 P.
37.
    
end insert

Yes, I have heard this story before. The "shoulders of giants" quote sounds quite humble and self-deprecating, until you know at whom it was really aimed.

--
The Evil Michael Davis(tm)
http://mdavis19.tripod.com
http://skepticult.org Member #264-70198-536
Member #33 1/3 of The "I Have Been Killfiled By Tommy" Club

"There's a sucker born every minute" - David Hannum (often erroneously attributed to P. T. Barnum)