“Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer” Book Review

Book review by Tim Carr

Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer

By Michael White

Like most people my view of Isaac Newton was the traditional one. Lonely recluse who single handedly changed our view of the universe in the most profound way – liked by few, admired by many.

Michael White’s long book doesn’t contradict any of this, but the picture presented here is one of a man as much preoccupied by his unorthodox religious views and an obsession with alchemy as much as the pure scientist that history has portrayed him.

Isaac Newton senior (who could just about write his name) died before his famous son was born in 1642 – the same year Galileo was born. While he was still of a young age, his mother decided to remarry, even though she was quite comfortably off. Left in the care of his grandparents, this virtual abandonment had the almost inevitable effect of making Newton turn in on himself – a characteristic he would rarely abandon in afterlife. While his mother had little use for education, his school headmaster, Henry Stokes, and relatives of his mother encouraged him to go to Cambridge. He entered in 1661 and had to start at the lowest social rung of university life.

Having to be deferential to upper class dullards did little to improve his already resentful attitude but he threw himself into his studies and impressed influential people who he would need in order to climb the college ladder. White makes clear that Newton cared deeply about such worldly things as what people thought of him. A man very easily slighted, he could harbour a grudge which, rather than fading with time, would only fester and grow. In 1664 he bought a glass prism at a fair and used it to famously show how light is made up of different colours. The following year a recurrence of plague closed Cambridge for a couple of years and it was while he was at home in Wollsthorpe that Newton made his first foray into the laws of motion, discovering the inverse square law.

By 1667 friends had convinced authorities that his work was of a calibre as to make him worthy of a fellowship, which he duly received. It is at this point that I found myself wading through a couple of chapters dealing with Newton’s obsession with the ancient `science’ of alchemy. I suppose a detailed history of this most popular (and pointless) of pursuits is needed to explain much of the man’s odd personality. Also, White shows how these years of (to our eyes) wasted effort were actually crucial to Newton’s eventual understanding of what came to be known as gravity , which is, I suppose, no small thing. Apparently his work on a substance called the Star of Regulus was a factor in realising that there was an actual physical force holding the planets in orbit around the sun.

As well as alchemy, Newton was obsessed with religion. Although a devout Christian, he embraced Arianism – a belief that God and Jesus were separate entities. This was unacceptable in 17th century England and it was necessary to obtain special permission from the king to continue as Lucasian professor without taking holy orders. Newton spent years studying the bible and became convinced that in its pages were to be found the secrets of God’s creation. As with alchemy, a great deal of time is devoted to this aspect of the man’s personality and only by reading the book do you realise that not only were these things important to his science (and therefore important to us) but they defined him just as much as the science he left us.

From this White moves on to a chapter called “Feuds”. We have already seen examples of Newton’s truculence before but now we see just how truly mean, vindictive and petty he could easily be. The slightest criticism would cause Newton to turn back in on himself. It was this that prevented him from publishing his great discoveries in mathematics, astronomy and optics. Only the friendship and cajoling of Edmund Halley brought the Principia to the world at all. But, despite his obtuseness and just downright rudeness, the Principia showed Isaac Newton to be one of the great minds of all time.

As White says: `With the Principia Newton not only unified the disparate theories of Galileo and Kepler into a single, coherent, mathematically and experimentally supported whole; he also opened the door to the industrial revolution.”

One of Newton’s many enemies was the great Robert Hooke whose own ideas about motion were remarkably similar to those of Newton. He even fought with Huygens when the great Dutch astronomer made the most gentle criticism of something he had done. One subject which White addresses in that of Newton’s sexuality. It has long been said that he essentially had none. However, Nicholas Fatio De Duillier became , shall we say, a special friend of his and may well have been his lover. However there is no proof either way and I was left feeling that it was of less importance than one might think.

Eventually Newton had a mental breakdown over his breakup with De Duillier and when he overcame it he entered politics with some success. For the first time he had moved from the world of academe to the more `worldly’ scene of London where he secured the job of reforming the royal mint. This very important position allowed him to play a crucial role in the much needed job of reforming England’s finances. An insight into just how cold a fish he could be was the alacrity with which he hunted down, and had executed, counterfeiters. Late on in his life, Newton became involved in yet another dispute, this time with Leibnitz over who invented the calculus. As usual, Newton behaved badly.

Isaac Newton was a man who actually thought it was his destiny to unlock the mind of God, whether it was through science, the bible or alchemy. He possessed a great intellect and a petty mind. He could understand the most difficult scientific problem but could never fathom other people. This book is perhaps a little long-winded at times but it is a real eye-opener for people like me who previously thought Of Newton as the first modern scientist, free of medieval mysticism. He wasn’t.

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