The brilliant and controversial life of one of the foremost scientific minds of all time—Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727)—is explored in a major new exhibition at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, opening March 5, 2005 and continuing through June 12, 2005 in the Library’s West Hall. Curated by Mordechai Feingold of the California Institute of Technology, the exhibition is drawn primarily from the Huntington’s history of science holdings, with additional works on loan from Cambridge University Library, UCLA’s Clark Library, and Caltech. Among the approximately 70 Newton manuscripts and related materials on display in Part I will be Newton’s own copy of his monumental treatise Principia Mathematica (London, 1687), complete with his handwritten corrections and annotations. Also on view will be works that influenced Newton , such as a 1663 Latin translation of Galileo’s Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems and a 1649 edition of Rene Descartes' Geometry.

Part II of the exhibition, “ The Newtonian Moment: The Making of Modern Culture” (July 23 – Jan. 1, 2006), will examine the influence of Newton ’s work on all aspects of modern culture. The exhibition is based on a recent show at the New York Public Library, also curated by Feingold.

INTRODUCTION

“Isaac Newton was the greatest and the luckiest of mortals. The greatest because he discovered the law of universal gravitation, the luckiest because there was only one universe.”

This tribute, attributed to the eighteenth-century French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, captures the singular position that the author of the Principia and the Opticks came to occupy as the acme of human possibility. Newton’s spectacular contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy – the discovery of the calculus, the articulation of a radical new theory of light and colors, the unification of terrestrial and celestial mechanics under a single law – brought the era of the Scientific Revolution to a spectacular close. They also charted the course of science for the next two centuries. Had he lived in antiquity, contemporaries had little doubt, Newton would surely have been deified.

But Newton’s influence transcended the domain of science. During a time when the mathematical sciences and natural philosophy were integral to a broader encyclopedia of knowledge, the apparent success of these domains set an example of so-called superior knowledge for other domains to emulate: the search for rational, universal principles became the modus vivendi for all researchers regardless of field. Naturally, some dissented to this summons to reorient knowledge, sparking heated debates over the applicability of mathematics (and physics) to other areas of science, as well as between the sciences and the humanities over the kind of knowledge most worth having. This exhibition tells the story of the conception and diffusion of Newton’s ideas, and the tension and often-public clashes they engendered. Notwithstanding these burgeoning controversies, or maybe because of them, for friends and foes alike Newton became an icon to be emulated or rejected, revered or excoriated — but always there to contend with.

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF GENIUS

The rusticity and provincialism of the Lincolnshire manor house where Newton was born in 1642 contrasted sharply with the cosmopolitanism and intellectual sophistication of Cambridge University, where he arrived in June 1661. He would remain in Cambridge for thirty-five years, and the University contributed significantly to the maturation of his genius. Newton was not self-taught, solitary or dejected, as commonly perceived. Nor was the University a bastion of scholasticism or intellectual stagnation commonly portrayed. The well-rounded and humanistically informed Cambridge curriculum proved indispensable to Newton’s grounding in the culture of erudition, and propitious to the formation of his scientific methodology and distinct style of reasoning. Cambridge also provided Newton with access to books and like-minded colleagues — above all his mentor, friend, and patron Isaac Barrow. In this sense Newton truly “stood on the shoulders of giants,” as he once wrote (albeit tongue-in-cheek) to Robert Hooke. Much of his genius consisted of his remarkable ability to simultaneously consume and transform any knowledge he had acquired. Consequently, his celebrated anni mirabiles (wondrous years) back in Lincolnshire during the plague (1665-66) were not cut off from his Cambridge experience, but a natural extension of it. Samuel Johnson, therefore, was surely correct to conclude that Newton stood alone “merely because he had left the rest of mankind behind him, not because he deviated from the beaten track.”

"Newton and the Prism" from William Hayley, The Life of George Romney, Esq (London, 1809)

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO NEWTON

Newton was thrust into the international scientific community in late 1671 with the unveiling of his sensational miniature reflecting telescope before the Royal Society of London. Gratified by the enthusiastic reception of his “toy,” Newton consented to publish his revolutionary theory of light and colors. The ensuing controversies over the verity of the theory made Newton vow never to appear in print again. Only owing to the considerable scientific and diplomatic skills of Edmond Halley did Newton agree to write, then publish, the Principia (1687). Seventeen more years elapsed before the Opticks finally appeared (1704). Both works generated as much excitement as controversy. Subsequent editions clarified and elaborated on certain Newtonian concepts, as well as responded to criticisms. The eruption of the calculus priority dispute between Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, complicated the response to the two works, prejudicing Leibniz’s disciples against central tenets of Newton’s masterpieces, and causing a rift between English and Continental mathematicians. Ironically, those very disciples proceeded to translate the Principia into the Leibnizian form of the calculus (differential equations), thus creating the necessary mathematical tools for the future assimilation and advancement of Newton’s ideas. Newton’s English disciples, for their part, began rendering the Opticks and, especially, the Principia into the more accessible format of commentaries, aimed at those with only a modicum of mathematical background.

REASON AND FAITH

In the "General Scholum" to the second edition of the Principia Newton made a rare public profession of faith, enumerating the power and attributes of the "Lord God," while affirming that the "most elegant system of the sun, planets, and Comets, could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." Newton's religiosity was well known. But he was also an anti-Trinitarian heretic, although he took care (unlike some of his disciples) to conceal his convictions. Also concealed from public scrutiny was his extensive research into the prophecies of the books of Daniel and Revelation, the divinity of Christ, and the history of the Church. Despite these precautions, Newton's presumed religious sentiments - based on his known piety and the few gleanings to be had from the Principia and the Opticks - offered a wide scope of action for proponents of a variety of religious (and not so religious) doctrines. All were eager to co-opt the authority of the great Newton to enhance their respectability. Newton was thus invoked by English and Continental Protestants seeking to promote natural theology as well as by those eager to make him the patron saint of deism and even materialism. Conversely, orthodox theologians and laymen of various denominations considered that such malleability justified their suspicion that Newtonian science could lead to atheism.

Reproduced by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

TRIAL BY FIRE

In his old age, Newton was known to boast that he had made the Principia purposely difficult in order to stave off “smatterers” in mathematics. He need not have tried. The incomprehensibility of the treatise, however, derived not simply from the need to master a new language of mathematics or to assimilate such a mystifying concept as action at a distance. The very theory and structure of the Principia challenged — and often defeated — even the very few with the requisite mathematical skills. The recondite nature of Newton’s language and his failure to supply proofs to various propositions were compounded by ambiguities and inconsistencies (and some errors). Newton’s refusal to offer a mechanical cause to account for universal gravitation, or to provide an underlying metaphysical framework, also unsettled his contemporaries. Accustomed to think about natural philosophy in terms of causes and a priori reasoning, they bristled at Newton’s suggestion that certain knowledge could be derived directly from the phenomena of nature, and that there was no need to “feign hypotheses.” To these inherent difficulties of comprehension were added chauvinistic overtones. Newtonian ideas were as likely to be accepted or rejected along nationalistic lines as on the merits of the case; this was true not only for German proponents of Leibniz, but also among Frenchmen who balked at the spectacle of the dethroning of Descartes – the reigning scientific philosopher – by an Englishman.

A NEW WORLDVIEW EMERGES

The diffusion of Newtonian ideas before Newton’s death in 1727 was confined to the domain of mathematicians and natural philosophers as well as to a small circle of educated men who had acquired a taste for such studies. Wider dissemination required the unique genius of Voltaire and of Francesco Algarotti. What made Voltaire so effective an agent — apart from an unparalleled ability to seduce an audience by a masterful combination of shock and wit — was that he was neither a mathematician nor a physicist, but a literary giant aloof from the academic disputes over Newtonian ideas. In other words, Voltaire’s stature as an amateur in matters of science was the source of his contemporary appeal, demonstrating for the first time the accessibility of Newton’s ideas to non-specialists. Equally successful was Algarotti’s transmutation of Newtonian ideas into an agreeable dialogue format, specifically intended to appeal to women, which mitigated the dryness of the subject matter with amusing digressions. Other popular texts soon came on the market, ensuring that by the middle of the eighteenth century Newtonian science became a topic of general conversation. Women and children emerged as the audience of choice for publishers of popular scientific and philosophical works, while fashionable salons throughout Europe became pivotal venues for the discussion and dissemination of new scientific ideas.

ALL WAS LIGHT

The daunting effect of the underlying mathematics on the diffusion of Newtonian ideas was also alleviated by the inventiveness of English and Dutch scientific practitioners in designing scientific instruments — and devising ingenious experiments — capable of establishing Newtonian principles. “Forces” and the laws of motion suddenly became every bit as visual (and demonstrable) as the refraction of white light through a prism. Thanks to the efforts of these university professors, instruments makers, and itinerant lecturers, the scientific lecture-demonstration became the backbone of university instruction in the natural sciences as well as a trendy form of public entertainment among aristocrats and members of the middle classes. The popularity of science increased even more during the 1740s with the harnessing of electricity and the coming into vogue of natural history.

HUMANITIES AND THE CULTURE OF SCIENCE

Alexander Pope’s famous couplet eulogizing Newton — “Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night,/ God said let Newton be and all was light” — encapsulates the challenge that Newton’s success posed for men of letters and artists alike. On the one hand, his transcendent genius necessitated a view of him akin to that of a poet or a painter, thus insinuating a more prominent role for reason in the act of creation. On the other hand, since Newton had reconstituted nature, those who versified or painted it found themselves compelled to become more philosophical in their approach and training — if poetry and art were to maintain their age-old objective to instruct as well as to please. What ensued was half a century of ambiguity and tension between poetic license and the demands of a (quantified) nature, resolved only with the advent of romanticism in the late eighteenth century. The Romantics sought to remove poetry and art from under the umbrella of science, substituting mysteries and emotions for laws and reason. To this end, Newton was excoriated as the chief culprit who had “decomposed the rainbow” (Shelley) and bequeathed that “single vision” that had deadened nature (Blake).

Isaac Frost.  Two Systems of Astronomy.  London: George Baxter, 1856

APOTHEOSIS

The deification of Isaac Newton began as early as 1687, when Edmond Halley contributed a poem to the first edition of the Principia (which he edited), the final line of which decrees: “no closer to the gods can any mortal rise.” For the next 150 years, admiration of Newton bordered on idolization; he was immortalized in verse, engraved in stone, his bust prominent in the “temples of worthies” that proliferated in aristocratic gardens of the eighteenth century. It was a common practice to hang the portrait of the great Englishman in the study of a scientist or a man of letters, thereby paying homage — and perhaps hoping for inspiration. Another way to indicate an intellectual link was to include a bust of Newton in a commissioned portrait, or at the very least inscribe his name on the spine of a book depicted in the background. Not a few artists sanctified Newton’s genius or his contribution to science in their paintings, while shrewd entrepreneurs appropriated his name or portrait to adorn their firm’s logo. On an institutional level, academies of architecture announced competitions for designs of monuments to commemorate the “divine” Newton. With time, the historical Newton receded into the background, overshadowed by the very legacy he helped create. Newton thus metamorphosed into science personified.

Goethe's opposing theory of light in

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Zur Farbenlehre.

(Tubingen, 1810)

Mordechai Feingold
Professor of History, California Institute of Technology

Suggested Reading, available in The Huntington Bookstore & More

Cohen, I. Bernard. The Cambridge Companion to Newton. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Cohen, I. Bernard. Newton: Texts, Backgrounds, Commentaries. Edited by Richard S. Westfall. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995.

Fauvel, John, et al., eds. Let Newton Be! New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. OUT OF PRINT

Feingold, Mordechai. The Newtonian Moment: Isaac Newton and the Making of Modern Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Hakim, Joy. The Story of Science, Book Two: Newton at the Center. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2004. (for young readers)

Hall, A. Rupert. Isaac Newton: Adventurer in Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Israel, Jonathan. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1952.

Newton, Isaac. The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Porter, Roy. Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.

Westfall, Richard S. The Life of Isaac Newton. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

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