Attitude Media Manly Manners News @ Jan 28 2023
No one knows Newton’s work for two decades
In April 1667, Newton returned to his rooms at Trinity College. He had left two years earlier with the ink barely dry on his bachelor of arts degree. In the interval, he had become the greatest mathematician in the world, and the equal of any natural philosopher then living. No one knew. He had published nothing, communicated his results to no one. So the situation would remain, in essence, for two decades. end? Year after year, he published next to nothing, and he had almost no discernible impact on his contemporaries. As Richard Westfall put it: “Had Newton died in 1684 and his papers survived, we would know from them that a genius had lived. Instead of hailing him as a figure who had shaped the modern intellect, however, we would at most . . . [lament] his failure to reach fulfillment.” Levenson, Thomas. Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist (p. 21). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition. Levenson, Thomas. Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist (p. 19). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
