[Perspectives] Scientist, theologian, and heretic

Two centuries ago, William Wordsworth famously contemplated a statue in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, and wrote in The Prelude: “Of Newton with his prism and silent face,/ The marble index of a mind forever/ Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.” Half a century ago, the mathematician and broadcaster Jacob Bronowski added another compelling comment on Isaac Newton in his history of science, The Ascent of Man, c omparing him with his greatest scientific admirer, Albert Einstein: “Newton is the Old Testament god; it is Einstein who is the New Testament figure…full of humanity, pity, a sense of enormous sympathy.” Although neither of these observations appears in Priest of Nature: the Religious Worlds o f Isaac Newton by Rob Iliffe, a long-time scholar of Newton, together they encapsulate both the challenge and the fascination of writing about the life and thought of this misanthropic, scientific genius.
Source: LANCET - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research