#isaacnewton #historyofscience #cartoonhistory

He wanted to see if changing the shape of his eyeball had any effect on how he perceived light. Miraculously he escaped unscathed!

It is a side of Isaac Newton that is unfamiliar to many. Usually thought of as a cold, calculating mathematician, he was in fact a willing and courageous experimentor. He nearly blinded himself by staring endlessly at the sun, believed he could train himself to control another's mind, ingested chemicals to record their taste and believed the world would end in the year 2060.

An alchemist and a heretic, the real Isaac Newton was far more interesting, strange and dangerous that previously known!

_________________________________________________________________________

Sir Isaac Newton. Mezzotint by T. O. Barlow, 1868, after Sir G. Kneller, 1689.
Licence: Public Domain Mark

Selection of screenshots taken from Isaac Newton notebooks. c.f. https://library.si.edu/digitallibrar...
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflexions and colours of light. London: Printed for Sam. Smith, and Benj. Walford. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.302475.39...
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica Newton Isaac Sir 16421727
https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.52126.390...
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Sir Isaac Newton. Stipple engraving by H. Meyer after Sir G. Kneller, 1702.
Licence: Public Domain Mark

Two peasants hold a red robe; cherubs blow wind and Mercury rests on water below; representing a stage in the process of alchemy. Coloured etching, ca. 18th century.
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Wellcome Collection.

Tripvs avrevs, hoc est, tres tractatvs chymici selectissimi, nempe I. Basilii Valentini ... Practica vna cum 12. clauibus & appendice, ex Germanico: II. Thomæ Nortoni ... Crede mihi seu ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex anglicano manuscripto in latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris vt & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cvivsdam ... Abbatus Westmonasteriensis ... Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum. Nunc in diuersarum nationum gratiam / editi, & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operâ & studio Michaelis Maieri.
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Wellcome Collection.

Integrum morborum mysterium, sive medicinæ catholicæ tomi primi tractatus secundus. [Pulsus seu nova et arcana pulsuum historia ... Hoc est, portionis tertiae pars tertia, de pulsuum scientia ... medicorum ... sive tomi primi tractatus secundi, sectio secunda, de morborum signis ... hoc est, divinatio per urinam.] In sectiones distributus duas : quorum ... / authore Robert Fludd, alias De Fluctibus.
Licence: Public Domain Mark

Cabala, speculum artis et naturae, in alchymia; exinde, quid, lapis sophorum antiquissimus, rei sit, qui triplex, & tamen simplex lapis existit : Omnia hactenus ex variis etiam scriptis paucis observata, singulis laboriosis amatoribus artis honoris ergò, deo annuente, tam perspicuè ac lucidissimo speculo, proposita, et quatuor aeneis laminis incisis picturis exhibita / Per ignotum, attamen notum, sicuti insignia prima figurae insculpta testantur, nunc è Germanico, Latnio [sic] versa à strenuo sapientiae cultore, et unâ cum praestantissimi cujusdam philosophi diagraphe hujus ipsius argumenti, Roseae Crusis Fraternitati dicata edita. Quò hac in materia amplius nil desideretur.
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Wellcome Collection.

An alchemist reading a book; his assistants stirring the crucible on the other side of the room. Engraving by P.F. Basan after D. Teniers the younger.
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Wellcome Collection.

Execution of an Alchemist, 1597
Courtesy of Science History Institute
Licence: Public Domain Mark

Sir Isaac Newton (?) showing an optical experiment to an audience in his laboratory. Wood engraving by Martin after C. Laverie.
Licence: Public Domain Mark

Newton oil painting
Sir Isaac Newton. Oil painting by Sir James Thornhill.
Licence: Public Domain Mark

_______________________________________
Subscribe
My channel:    / cartoonhistory  
If you like, hit the notification bell so you don't miss out on future videos.