Newton, the Man (1946)
www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk
Newton, the Man (1946)
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#2Thank you, a great story. One man trying to find the ‘code’ the universe was written with and discovering important parts.
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#3Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1]
Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-worship. There are, after all, lessons to be learnt on how not to be as well :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu...
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#4(authored by John Maynard Keynes)
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#5Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
That might be why when he worked at the Mint he tool the task of finding and prosecuting "coiners" so seriously - even working undercover himself to gather information and running the prosecutions himself:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Later_life
World's greatest scientist turned undercover crime fighting superhero!
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#6Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
I don't think that page on Wikipedia can be the source of your information—it says nothing to support the claim of mean-spiritedness.
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#7Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
I don't think that page on Wikipedia can be the source of your information—it says nothing to support the claim of mean-spiritedness.
You're right.Here's a better source. I have highlighted the relevant passage on my Kindle from the book "A Brief History of Time" and sharing as an image because I can't quite get to post directly as text.
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#8Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
Is there strong evidence that people don't understand this already? There are plenty of lists such as this one pointing out similar people who were immensely talented in some respect.
https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-geniuses-shockingly-horrible-...
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#9Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
He also was pretty nasty to Robert Hooke (of Hooke's Law and microscopy fame). Yes, he was probably a better scientist than Hooke, but Hooke wasn't nothing either.
Re: Newton, the Man (1946)
#10Hagiography aside, Newton, the Man was also mean-spirited and would go to great lengths to ensure his "opponents" would suffer. I remember reading that as President of the Royal Society, he politicized the Leibniz Calculus issue so much that even our politicians can pick up a lesson or two :-) [1] Why am I telling this? Well, I'd like people to realize that our heroes also have flaws and we don't fall to blind hero-w…
He also was pretty nasty to Robert Hooke (of Hooke's Law and microscopy fame). Yes, he was probably a better scientist than Hooke, but Hooke wasn't nothing either.
The famous "shoulders of giants" quote has been seen by some as a mean dig at the hunchbacked Hooke.