The Newton You Didn’t Know

https://www.huntington.org/verso/2020/01/newton-you-didnt-know

by benbreen • 7 years ago

40 17 7 years ago

dr_dshiv2• 7 years ago

In the last paragraph of his Principia Mathematica (maybe the most important book in the history of science?), Newton claims that sensation and action comes from electrical vibrations in the nerves. It took hundreds of years before before his hypothesis could be accepted.

heavenlyblue2• 7 years ago

You should say “proven”, not “accepted.

ecoled_ame3• 7 years ago

Nothing in science is ever proven. There can only be accumulating evidence and increased agreement among scientists. If something were to be considered proven, then we would not be open to re-interpretation if contradictory evidence were to appear. This would be anti-scientific.

jt_snacks• 7 years ago

In scientific lingo, proven is absolute. Accepted is almost-absolute, a certainty that, if shook up, would be a major upset.

Same with the actual meaning of "hypothesis" and "proof".

mattnewton• 7 years ago

I tend to agree with Paul Graham[0] on this one, and less on the "last of the magicians" moniker. The idea is Newton tried to uncover truth through multiple methods and avenues, and we remember him for the ones the bore fruit, and not for the ones that didn't seem to pan out.

After all, in Newton's time, how would you know alchemy didn't work until you tried it rigorously? Or, more generally, how would you have even known for sure that empiricism and mathematics would be so successful?

[0] http://www.paulgraham.com/disc.html

bluedevil2k• 7 years ago

You raise a good point because as we’ve found in the 1930’s and I believe finally performed in the 50’s, alchemy can occur. (Seaborg with a particle accelerator). The method of discovery is performed by trial and error and building off the mistakes and successes of your predecessors and Newtown was just the first step in many of his discoveries.

ecoled_ame3• 7 years ago

Okay, alchemy doesn’t refer only to transmutation. It was a legitimate practice by early chemists who were playing around with materials. The mysticism is greatly exaggerated. And the scientific method goes back tens or hundreds of thousands of years .. for example early hominids fishing for tuna in Morocco. My point is that rudimentary scientific experiments are still science and should be appreciated. There was no transition from magic to science in the 17th century.

elfexec• 7 years ago

Newton could be called the first of the new magicians. The idea that some invisible unknown force is acting upon entities far away is rather a magical idea if you think about it.

The idea that the position of the moon influences events on earth sounds just like astrology as it does physics. The only difference is that the claim by physics can be replicated while the one by astrology cannot. But both are equally mystical.

After all, in Newton's time, how would you know alchemy didn't work until you tried it rigorously?

Which is how chemistry started. Modern chemistry was born out of european alchemists primarily trying to reproduce porcelain from china - a major source of trade imbalance between china and europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_B%C3%B6ttger

Of course like the chinese, he kept his recipe a secret in order to enrich himself and other european alchemists continue their search for the recipe. Insatiable greed along with insatiable curiosity is how we ultimately got chemistry.

drummer• 7 years ago

Always look where they don't want you to look. Something Newton knew and was careful to hide in his time.

_bxg1• 7 years ago

The biggest leaps are not made through rigorous process, but through unhindered imagination. Einstein was the same way.

saagarjha• 7 years ago

Unhindered imagination and a excellent proclivity for advanced math.

The Newton You Didn’t Know

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