GENIUS UNAWARE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 142, 18 June 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

GENIUS UNAWARE

Books in Review

TSAAC NEWTON, possibly the A greatest mathematical genius whose life is recorded by human history, was born, a premature and undersized infant, on Christmas Day, 1 642, and lived to the ripe old age of 85. During the two hundred odd years that have passed since his death his name, with that of Fluclid, has stood for the stability and certaintv of the mathematical bases of scientific knowWipe; u has been only in our own dav thor nr,|.-h of his work has been seen to have been erected on an insecure foundation. It is fitting, therefore, that in tue-e t:ir.p» a biographer should arise to d" tii,. »:;»mo ol Newton fresh honour. I he late Mr. J. \\ . N. Sullivan, whose lai-t "Isaac Newton,'' is now published posthumously by Messrs. Macmi.;an. has written a charac-teristicallv interesting study of Newton's life. Newton gave little promise in his youth of the genius hidden within him. At sciiool he followed classical studies. a> was usual, and was onlv ordinarilv good at them. At the age of 14 he was taKen away from school and was put to work on a farm, his mother having set her heart on his becoming a farmer. Newton's sheep and cattle wandered at will, however, while he read books or carved with his knife, and after his failure was apparent his mother decided to send him to Cambridge University. Thither he went in 1061, and it is likely that for the first two years of his university career he did little out of the ordinary run. In fact, it seems probable that up till this stage he knew little more of mathematics than elementary arithmetic. The sudden flowering of Newton's genius is one of the most romantic

New Biography of Isaac Newton

-tone- in the history of thought. In lii'i.!. being then 21, his interests lirst turned to peome-try. and within a year :ii~ ins was fully awakened. and in.tnitested itself as "induhitablv the richest an<l most masterful that science records." During the next four years Newton made three of the greatest discoveries in the history of scientific thought — the differential calculus, the composition of light and the law of gravitation. Those discoveries were rot given at once to the world, however. Indeed, it remains one <>f the puzzling parts of Newton's story to explain the reason for his apj>arent reluctance to publish his results—a reluctance which had its origin partly in his impatience of criticism by inferior minds and the public controversy which it brought in its train. Aa a result of this curious secretiveness, Newton did not publish his calculus at the time it was discovered, and consequently became embroiled nearly .VI years later in his controversy with Leibnitz, one of the most celebrated of scientific battles, a* to whether each had invented the calculus independently. Halley's Chance Visit The discoveries Newton hafl made, too. on the subject of gravitation, were not all piven to the world then and there. It was in Ifififi that he "began to think of gravity extending to the orb of the moon, and deduced that the. forces which keep the planets in their orbits must be reciprocally fls the squares of their distances from the centres about which they revolve." But having checked his. theory and found that the results "answered

pretty well," he put his papers on the subject aside. Thirteen years later, in 107'J, some correspondence with Hooke momentarily revived hie interest in the problems, but after completing his proof that the planetary orbits would be elliptical. he again put the subject from his mind. It was in 1(584, live years later again, that Halley, Hooke and Sir Christopher Wren were one day discussing the mathematical problem involved in the distances of the planets from the sun. Sir C hristopher promised 40 shillings if cither of the others could formulate and prove a theorem within two months. After cipht months had elapsed Halley set out tor Cambridge to see if Newton could solve the problem. On the question being put to him, Newton at once gave the answer. Struck with joy and amazement. Halley asked how lie knew it. ''Why,'' replied Newton, 'T have calculated it." but on being asked for his calculation replied that he had lost it. A Spare-time Scientist Thus by the chance visit of Halley Newton's genius received the stimulus that again after 20 years revived its full force. In the next two months Newton worked at nine lectures which he delivered at Cambridge the next term under the title lie Motu Corporum. These excited Halley so much that he incited Newton to write the famous Frincipia, which was produced in the 17 months. December. Itiß4. to May, 10SB. There are 150 propositions in the three books, and the rapidity of their production makes this achievement incomparable in the annals of science. If the Frincipia represented a lifetime's meditation. Newton's position in the history of science would still be unique. But 17 months saw them completed. This, however, was only one of Newton's achievements — hU mathematical discoveries and the laws of optics are

other fields into which this article cannot stray. Even these are the products of restricted periods of his life. Newton did not regard himself as & scientist. Besides a Cambridge professor, he was at different times a member of Parliament and a mint official. Indeed, the laet 28 years of his life were passed as Master of the Mint, a position wliich, almost a sinecure, allowed him an assured income and ample leisure to follow hie scholastic inclinations. These did not generally follow scientific lines —in fact, the last 4(1 years of his life were entirely barren of scientific discovery. Hie bulk of Xewton's life was spent :n studying alchemy, history and theology. and in endeavouring to solve the problems of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. He did not believe in the Trinity, and spent an unbelievable amount of time and trouble proving to his own satisfaction that the texts which support the doctrine of the Trinitv werc forgeries. Hi* chronology, too. was founded on the belief that human history started with the creation of Adam, which he believed was eertainlv iu the year 4004 B.C. His historical essays display (as we might imagine) the greatest ingenuity in fitting this theory in with the known facts—but one is tempted to smile sadly at the time e\|>ciideU on these pursuits by the greatest scientific brain of which' we have a record. 'Hie fact is, save Mr. Sullivan, that Newton was a genius of the first rank in a field that he himself did not consider important. He brought a new method to science—he was the first modern scientist who observed the facts and followed them wherever thev led, irrespective of preconceived theory. But he thought his discoveries were of only second-rate importance, and followed with greater enthusiasm researches into theology and history and alchemy, which have now been entirely forgotten. This book of Mr. Sullivan's will surely reawaken interest in the life of its great subject and is sure of wide appreciation. It is a pity (if we may have a word of criticism) that it has "no. index and no chronological table of the cardinal events of Xewton's life.