Caltech Historian Brings Newton to the Huntington Library

Caltech News Release
For Immediate Release
February 16, 2005

Caltech Historian Brings Newton to the Huntington Library

PASADENA, Calif. - As a boy, Isaac Newton was
terrible at working on his mother's farm. Sheep
he was supposed to watch, for example, would
wander away while Newton became engrossed in a
book. But even in grammar school in Grantham,
England, Newton showed his considerable talents.
One ingenious device he built was a wooden
replica of a water mill, powered by a mouse on a
treadmill, the mouse motivated to run by tugs on
a string tied to its tail.

The boy evolved into the man who discovered the
law of universal gravitation and planetary
motion, who invented calculus, proved that white
light is composed of a spectrum of colors, and
ultimately, extended his influence beyond science
to impact all aspects of modern culture.
Beginning March 5, Newton's life and work will be
explored in the first of a two-part exhibition at
the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and
Botanical Gardens in San Marino. By showcasing a
range of Newton artifacts, the exhibition will
"examine the formation of the mind of a genius,"
says noted Newton scholar Mordechai Feingold, the
show's curator and a professor of history at the
California Institute of Technology.

A mathematician and physicist, Newton transformed
the realm of scientific thought and inquiry, but
also the wider intellectual world as well. After
Newton, the search for universal principles
shaped the development of ideas in virtually all
fields, including history, psychology,
metaphysics, and literature. "Everyone wanted to
be the Newton of their field," says Feingold.
"Adam Smith wanted to be the Newton of economics;
Hume wanted to be the Newton of moral philosophy.

"He became one of the greatest icons of science
that ever lived," says Feingold. "The diffusion
of various stages of his ideas not only permeated
science, but art, literature, and religion as
well through the 18th and 19th centuries."

Because of this wide-ranging influence, the
exhibition will be in two parts. The first will
focus on Newton and his science, and will run
through June 12 in the library's west hall. Then,
a follow-up exhibition titled The Newtonian
Moment: Isaac Newton and the Making of Modern
Culture will examine the influence his work
exerted on all aspects of modern culture. It will
run from Saturday, July 23, 2005 through Sunday,
January 1, 2006.

The Huntington exhibit follows on the heels of a
similar exhibition, also curated by Feingold,
that took place at the New York Public Library.
While the Huntington will also include key
manuscripts from the Cambridge University Library
in England (where the largest collection of
original Newton materials reside), it will mainly
draw from Huntington's Newtonian artifacts, none
of which traveled to the East Coast. "The
Huntington has an extraordinary collection of
scientific materials," says Feingold. The show
will also feature items from Caltech and from
UCLA's Clark Library, showcasing a trove of
Newton articles that are housed in Southern
California institutions.

Through approximately 70 Newton manuscripts,
books and related materials, the exhibition will
explore the many facets of Newton's pursuits that
are not as well-known, such as his strong
interest in alchemy and theology. Visitors to the
exhibition will see many of his personal letters,
books, and drawings. A centerpiece of the first
exhibit will be Newton's personal copy of the
first edition of his Principia Mathematica,
published in 1687. "It is the monumental treatise
that unified celestial and terrestrial mechanics
under a single law--universal gravitation--and
charted the course of physics for some two
centuries," says Feingold. Once the book was
published, Newton took a copy and interleaved it
with blank pages facing the original pages,
handwriting corrections and additions on the
blank sheets and in the margins. Also on display
will be The Opticks, published 17 years after the
Principia and containing Newton's revolutionary
theories regarding light and colors. The
exhibition will also display works of people who
significantly influenced Newton's thinking,
including Galileo and Ren? Descartes.

Even as Newton's new concepts were gaining
acceptance and setting a new scientific standard,
they provoked controversies and even public
clashes. "For friends and foes alike, Newton
became an icon to be emulated or rejected,
revered or excoriated, but always there to
contend with," says Feingold. In the end, Newton
redefined the study of nature by insisting that
it must be based on hard evidence and not on
hypotheses. Ultimately his ideas and innovations
helped to usher in a brave new age of reason.
"Hence, the era of Enlightenment and Revolution
may be viewed as the Newtonian Moment," Feingold
adds.

Feingold's book The Newtonian Moment: Isaac
Newton and the Making of Modern Culture,
published last year, will be available in the
Huntington's bookstore.

wrote:

Caltech Historian Brings Newton to the Huntington Library



So, are they going to bring up the alchemy part or not?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

wrote:

Caltech Historian Brings Newton to the Huntington Library



So, are they going to bring up the alchemy part or not?

Pssst. That's practically all anybody knows about Newton
these days - that he "practiced alchemy". How about his
calculation of the figure of the earth? Will they bring
that up ? It's hard to find much about that.

.... and what do you know about it? Are you just parroting,
as I may justly suspect?

Lew Mammel, Jr.

Lewis Mammel wrote:

Pssst. That's practically all anybody knows about Newton
these days - that he "practiced alchemy".


Actually, hardly anybody knows he practiced alchemy, it makes an already
fascinating individual even more intriguing, and I'd really like to see
his approach to it, considering the brilliance of his mathematics.

How about his
calculation of the figure of the earth? Will they bring
that up ? It's hard to find much about that.



I imagine they will.

... and what do you know about it? Are you just parroting,
as I may justly suspect?



I've read several books on alchemy; and even have a 1800's reprint of
'The Triumphal Chariot Of Antimony" by Basilus Valentinus lying around
here somewhere.

Pat

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:

Lewis Mammel wrote:

Pssst. That's practically all anybody knows about Newton
these days - that he "practiced alchemy".


Actually, hardly anybody knows he practiced alchemy, it makes an already
fascinating individual even more intriguing, and I'd really like to see
his approach to it, considering the brilliance of his mathematics.

And those that do only know through the historical fiction of Neal
Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" rather than biographical study. Me, all
I knew about him growing up was F=ma and that he (arguably) invented
calculus.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D., GPG Key ID: BBF6FC1C
"The loss of the American system of checks and balances is more of a security
danger than any terrorist risk." -- Bruce Schneier
http://dischordia.blogspot.com
http://www.angryherb.net

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

Actually, hardly anybody knows he practiced alchemy, it makes an already
fascinating individual even more intriguing, and I'd really like to see
his approach to it, considering the brilliance of his mathematics.

I don't think there's any paradox here. Chemistry didn't really exist as a
scientific discipline. So to Newton, alchemy was a legitimate field of
study.

He invented the milled-edged coin while he was the controller of the Royal
Mint (to deter counterfeiters and extend the life of coins). Also the
catflap, according to Douglas Adams. Also while he was in charge of the Mint
he sent several forgers to the gallows.

"Isaac Newton," writes Stephen Hawking, "was not a nice man."

(Hawking succeeded Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge.)

On 2005-02-18, Neil Gerace wrote:

He invented the milled-edged coin while he was the controller of the Royal
Mint (to deter counterfeiters and extend the life of coins). Also the
catflap, according to Douglas Adams. Also while he was in charge of the Mint
he sent several forgers to the gallows.

Don't forget his spy network, part of the latter job... he also, it
seems, recruited Halley (among others) to help in the Recoining.

"Isaac Newton," writes Stephen Hawking, "was not a nice man."

(Hawking succeeded Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge.)

Well, there were fourteen other guys in the middle g. (At least three
or four of whom I'd expect most people here to recognise the names of -
Airy, Babbage, Stokes, Dirac... Stokes managed to be the only man other
than Newton to be Lucasian Professor, president of the Royal Society,
and a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University - unlike Newton, he
managed to do all of them simultaneously.)

--
-Andrew Gray

Neil Gerace wrote:

I don't think there's any paradox here. Chemistry didn't really exist as a
scientific discipline. So to Newton, alchemy was a legitimate field of
study.


And the scientific world the Alchemists lived in was one so different
from ours that its very hard to comprehend; without the understanding of
atoms or elements things were grouped together by similarity in color,
appearance, smell, or degree of hardness or or fluidity; F. Sherwood
Taylor's book "The Alchemists" tries hard to explain the thought
processes involved; try to imagine a world where people thought like this:
The Sun is round and yellow.
The yolk of an egg is round and yellow.
The yolk of an egg smells of sulfur when it decays.
Sulfur burns.
If the egg is not kept warm, it will not hatch, and decay and smell of
sulfur.
The Sun is warm, and gives life.
Because the Sun is warm, it does not decay like an egg.
The reason the sun is warm is that it is related to burning sulfur.
When sulfur is melted and solidifies it first turns red- the color of
blood, and then black, the color of decay.
Gold is also yellow, but does not decay like an egg.
Silver is white, the color of the Moon, but blackens.
The Moon has dark spots on it, so it is related to decaying silver.
Unlike the Sun, the Moon does not give warmth and life.
Lead weighs about the same as gold, but it also darkens.
Lead share aspects of both gold and silver; but is inferior to both, and
is lifeless like the cold moon.
If lead could be purified of its cold lifeless aspect, it could give
birth to gold, in the same way an egg can give birth to a yellow chick.
The way to do this would be through the application of sunlight, heat,
and sulfur, moderated by the influence of the Moon, to slowly move it
from a state of being base metal to that of being silver, and finally gold.
Don't even get me started on the mercury and antimony aspects; and what
the Phoenix and Dragon are all about; although you might get a clue
about the Phoenix from the above...if you know "The Art" that is.




(Hawking succeeded Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge.)




And you know where his health problems came from? A failed attempt at
making The Philosopher's Stone, without completely understanding the
wasting effect of Saturn on the process when it was the same house as
the Moon.
Why didn't someone warn him? That one'll get you every time.
That's how Jack Parsons got it, you know.

Christian Flannenkrantz

Herb Schaltegger wrote:


And those that do only know through the historical fiction of Neal
Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" rather than biographical study. Me, all
I knew about him growing up was F=ma and that he (arguably) invented
calculus.

He certainly invented calculus. What's arguable is his priority
in doing so. The lamentable thing is that his backers ( and
Newton too! ) felt the need to denigrate Leibniz in order to
enhance Newton's claim. ... the way I see it.

Lew Mammel, Jr.

Pat Flannery wrote:

Lewis Mammel wrote:

Pssst. That's practically all anybody knows about Newton
these days - that he "practiced alchemy".


Actually, hardly anybody knows he practiced alchemy,

Well LET NEWTON BE ( 1988 ) has chapters:

5. The harmonic roots of Newtonian science
6. Newton, matter, and magic
7. The secret life of an alchemist

9. Newton and the wisdom of the ancients

This last was his real crazy stuff. He was not alone
in it, though. The idea that there was a lost
era of transcendant knowledge - a "wise age" - was
widely held. It survives today with the concept of
Atlantis.

Anyway, Newton's involvement in all this has been
emphasized by pomo academia for the last 20 years.

it makes an already
fascinating individual even more intriguing, and I'd really like to see
his approach to it, considering the brilliance of his mathematics.

I read a book on it a long time ago. His efforts never really
amounted to much, is about all I got from it. He took alchemy
seriously, but I don't think you can really say he practiced
it. He was trying to "mine" it for systematic ideas on the
behavior of matter. The thing was that he was not proceding
according to atomic theory, so he was all at sea.

How about his
calculation of the figure of the earth? Will they bring
that up ? It's hard to find much about that.



I imagine they will.

I don't know. Newton develops this in the Principia, but he
presents a result based on the evaluation of an integral
"out of thin air". Two fat commentaries that I have pass
right over it. Frustrating.

... and what do you know about it? Are you just parroting,
as I may justly suspect?



I've read several books on alchemy; and even have a 1800's reprint of
'The Triumphal Chariot Of Antimony" by Basilus Valentinus lying around
here somewhere.

Well, how about Newton's approach? It seems to me he was very
rationalistic and systematic in his approach, and did not
partake of the mysticism that we associate with alchemy.
He thought stuff like "triumphal chariot" etc. was code .

Cerainly in the Principia he outlines a very rationalistic
plan for explicating matter and life processes. I know many
try to pin occultism on him because gravity is an "occult"
influence. To me this is mere rhetoric.


Lew Mammel, Jr.