Youtube: Why did Isaac Newton believe in Alchemy?

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In the Scholium of Book III of Principia Mathematica Newton mentions God explicitly as the agent creation and operation of the universe as Newton understood it. Newton could not show the Solar System to be stable under his gravitational laws so he opined that God came around now and again to keep it in tune.

ruveyn

I know and he wrote a ton of religious stuff, but there is no god in the laws of motion, there are no angels in the calculus. And gravity is not described as the hand of god moving things around. He knew what was science and what was belief, which is more than we can say for most of today's prominent scientists.

Last edited by wozeree on 22 Oct 2013, 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Double post

Actually Newton believed the heavens insofar as they were known in his day -were- the sensorium of God (and he said so in Principia). Newton believed very strongly that gravitation was how God moved stuff. By the way, he never proposed a material cause for gravitation (He said, in Latin), I feign no hypothesis for the causes of Gravity). All he did was give a law for computing the force of gravity between two point masses which was sufficient to explain all of the astronomical observations in his day.

Newton was a God Phreak, plain and simple.

ruveyn

That's what I'm trying to say, he didn't make up a supernatural force to explain it.

That's all! I could have done that! Easy peasy!

He was a God freak, but well just read my post above.
Really I'm not kidding you, if being a God freak would make me that smart, I'd be on me knees in church every day! He wasn't just smart he was - what's the word - shattering?


Edit - I'm thinking though - I don't think I'd make a good God freak. I'd get bored and start causing trouble. No matter how much I want to be another Isaac!

Newton and Einstein -- two of the greatest Aspie geniuses who ever lived!

There is no biographical evidence indicating that Newton as an Aspie. Newton was a screwed up neurotic who hated is mother and step father for abandoning him to the care of his grandmother. Newton also avoided sexual relations with women. There is no evidence that he was homosexual, but he did not want to get physical with the females.

Now we do have evidence that P.A.M. Dirac was a full bore 90 calibre Aspie. His biography is filled with evidence to that effect. Also Dirac's dad was probably a high functioning autistic.

There is no evidence that Einstein was an aspie, He started talking late, probably holding off until he had something to say. He was quite sociable and in his young manhood he was very successful with the ladies.

Be careful about claiming every math and physics genius as an aspie or an autie.

ruveyn

Never heard of PM Dirac until now.

Just googled him.

Yeah.

He sounds like a real life Sheldon Leonard !