The Secret Side of Sir Isaac Newton

A list of the most influential people of all time  wouldn't be complete without Sir Isaac Newton. Newton's laws are tied to almost everything we  see in everyday life. They help us understand how cars work, how baseballs move, how anything moves. 

Yet there was a secret side to the 17th century scientist which will become clear by the end  of this story. By his mid-20s, Newton had already invented calculus. Not bad for the son of an  illiterate farmer.

He would never meet his father who died three months before his birth on  Christmas day 1642 in the small english village of Woolsthorpe Manor in the county of Lincolnshire.  He was a premature baby and so small he was later told he could fit inside a quart mug. He barely  survived.

When Newton was three, his mom remarried and moved to a nearby village to live with a  wealthy clergyman. Newton was left behind in the care of his grandparents. That abandonment scarred  him.

Years later, he wrote a list of his sins, recalling an outburst from childhood: "Threatening  my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them. " He was a curious child - more  interested in mechanics than making friends. He carved this sundial as a nine-year-old.

When  he was 12, he enrolled at a local grammar school/ His signature can still be seen by a  windowsill of the King's School today. After the death of his stepdad, his mother  tried to remove him from school so he could be a farmer - a prospect that he dreaded. Luckily,  the schoolmaster convinced his mother to send him back to class where he gained the knowledge  necessary to enter the University of Cambridge in 1661, paying his way by working as a valet. 

Although he studied the works of the ancient Greek philosophers, he questioned their  theories writing in his notebook in Latin, "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but  my best friend is truth. " He vowed to find the truth through rigorous scientific experimentation.  His time as an undergrad was unremarkable but the extraordinary circumstances that happened next  would set the stage for his greatest achievements.

Shortly after receiving his Bachelor's degree  in 1665, the bubonic plague ravaged Europe and would take the lives of an estimated  one out of every four people in London. The pandemic forced Newton to work from  his childhood home for the next two years and would lead to his most amazing breakthroughs.  He used a prism to discover that white light and sunlight is made up of  the colors of the rainbow.

The widely held belief at the time was Aristotle's  theory that color was a mix of black and white. To prove his theory, Newton built a reflecting  telescope that used mirrors rather than lenses - leading to a more accurate image. That's a whole  lot safer than the time he stuck a sewing needle into his eye socket to figure out if altering his  eye shape would change his perception of color.

Outside the family home was also an apple tree. The  famous apple tree. Legend has it that Newton was sitting beneath a tree when an apple bonked him on  the head, prompting him to think about gravity - the force that brings things down.

There's no evidence  to suggest the fruit actually fell on his head but he did ask the question that helped unlock our  understanding of the universe: Could the same force reach all the way to the moon? He reasoned that  the same gravitational pull kept the moon orbiting around Earth rather than wandering off and he  believed this could also explain the movement of our planets in the solar system. The mathematics at  the time wasn't sophisticated enough to determine the motion of these objects so Newton invented  his own form of math calculus.

There was a dispute over who actually invented calculus. When German  mathematician Gottfried Leibniz published his paper on calculus in 1684, Newton claimed he'd  done the same work 20 years earlier. The thing is, Newton was so secretive that he hadn't actually  made his efforts public because he couldn't stand the scrutiny of his work.

When Leibniz appealed  to the Royal Society in London, Newton wielded his influence as the scientific academy's president to  get it to side with him. Most historians agree that the two discovered calculus independently. In 1667,  after the end of the plague, he returned to the University to continue his research as a fellow. 

He was a workaholic. Sometimes, he'd forget to eat. Just two years later while still in his mid-twenties,  he obtained one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world.

The Lucasian Professor  of Mathematics later held by none other then Stephen Hawking. Yet he was indifferent to his  students. One time, when no one showed up for class, he is said to have lectured to an empty room.

His  true passion lay in research. In 1687, he published his masterpiece: the Mathematical Principles of  Natural Philosophy - often referred to simply as Principia - one of the most important works ever  written. This was his own first edition copy.

It was here that he laid out his law of universal  gravitation as well as his three laws of motion. The first describes how an object acts when no  force is acting upon it. For example, a rocket stays still until a force is applied to it.

The second  law tells us that the more mass an object has, the more force it'll take to move it. A larger  rocket requires more fuel to make it accelerate. The final law states that for every action there  is a reaction.

The engine produces hot exhaust gases that flow through the rear of the rocket. In  reaction, a thrusting force is produced - pushing the rocket skywards. Newton may be considered one of  the greatest scientists the world has ever known yet he actually contributed more words to theology. 

Newton believed the Bible provided the code to the natural world and by carefully studying the Holy  texts, he could predict the future. He believed the apocalypse would happen in the year 2060 with the  caveat: "It may end later but I see no reason for its ending sooner. " He foresaw a period marked by  war and catastrophe followed by the second coming of Christ and the beginning of a new, divine era.

His  religious side was largely hidden from the public all the way until 1936, when Sotheby's auctioned  off his theological manuscripts. They ended up in the hands of a Jewish scholar before being given  to the state of Israel. 7,500 pages in Newton's own handwriting.

He did hold unorthodox views of  Christianity by rejecting the Trinity - the belief in the father, son, and the holy spirit. And also  fought against the attempt by King James II to catholicize the universities which got him elected  as a Member of Parliament where he served two brief terms. Apparently, the only thing he said on  the record was to request that a window be closed.

Newton also had another unknown side to him. He  spent 25 years secretly studying alchemy - the search for a method to turn common metals into  gold. This is a manuscript where Newton wrote down a recipe thought to be a step toward  concocting the mythical Philosopher's Stone now popularized in the Harry Potter series.

Alchemists believed it could even help humans achieve immortality. Unfortunately, Newton may have  gotten mercury poisoning from all the time spent in the laboratory. Examinations of his hair after  his death found high levels of the toxic compound which scholars believe could explain his mental  breakdown in 1693 when he lost grip on reality.

He wrote letters accusing the few friends he  had of conspiring against him. He suffered from insomnia and oppression. The personal crisis  lasted a year and a half.

Not too long after he ended his 30-year career at Cambridge. In 1696,  he moved to lLndon to help run the Royal Mint. Britain's finances were in ruins because of the  rampant practice of clipping off pieces of coins.

Counterfeiting was also an issue. Newton used a  scientific precision to improve the accuracy of coinmaking as Warden and then Master of the Mint.  He also took it upon himself to prosecute culprits, some of whom ended up hanging from the gallows.

His  later years would be spent further cementing his reputation and sometimes that meant trying  to erase his rivals from the history books. Another ugly dispute involved a brilliant  scientist named Robert Hooke who contended he was the one who gave Newton the notion that  led to his theory of gravity and wanted credit. In response, Newton is accused of using his  powers as President of the Royal Society to get rid of the only known portrait of Hooke. 

None exists to this day. Newton succeeded in getting the legacy he wanted. In 1705, Queen Anne  of England knighted him during a royal visit to the University of Cambridge, making him Sir Isaac  Newton.

A complicated man who remained reclusive yet desperately wanted to be remembered. Who threw  himself into his work at the cost of all hobbies and never married. Who was a man of science and  also, a man of faith.

Newton died in his sleep on March 20, 1727 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.  the Latin inscription on his grave reads: Here lies that which was mortal of Isaac Newton. His  immortal legacy continues to mold our modern world.

The English poet Alexander Pope was so moved  by Newton's accomplishments, he wrote the famous epitaph: Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night. God said "Let Newton be" and all was light. For Newsthink, I'm Cindy Pom.