Isaac Newton: The Last Sorceror by Michael White Fourth Estate 402pp, £18.99 in UK
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) would surely rank at or near the top of anyone's list of greatest-ever scientists. Much has been written about Newton's scientific contribution and about Newton the man, but according to this fine book, Newton was not the man that history claimed him to be.
Nobody questions the importance of Newton's scientific contribution, which was immense. What White does, for the first time to my knowledge in a book aimed at the popular market, is to highlight the huge effort that Newton put into alchemical studies, and to propose that he was significantly influenced by alchemical modes of thinking when developing his understanding of the nature of gravity.
Most authors have played down or ignored Newton's work on alchemy, presumably on the basis that acknowledging this interest in the occult would tarnish the image of the man who introduced rigorous objective method into science. At various times Newton also made intense studies of several other areas, e.g. biblical prophesy, numerology, and mythology.
Michael White's book works best as a straightforward account of Newton's life and personality. Above all, Newton's incandescent genius shines through, and significantly softens one's reactions to his difficult and tortured personality. White skilfully teases out the various factors that contributed to Newton's complex psychology and produced this intensely focused, intellectually arrogant, emotionally barren, wily, unforgiving, vindictive and ambitious man. Not a very likeable fellow! However, White provides such a good analysis of the personality that I felt drawn to Newton as I progressed through the book, and sort of missed him when I finished it.
White's presentation of Newton's scientific work is patchy. The three laws of motion are scarcely dealt with at all, and the calculus, Newton's great mathematical invention, is explained in a muddy fashion. Newton's understanding of gravity and the nature of light is presented more clearly.
Alchemy was a pseudo-scientific predecessor of chemistry widely practised since ancient times. The alchemists sought a method of transmuting base metals into gold, and also an elixir of eternal youth. While the idea sounds nonsensical to the modern ear, it was taken very seriously in pre-scientific times and many great figures, such as Thomas Aquinas, pursued alchemical studies. Interest in alchemy remained strong in Newton's day. For example, the great chemist Robert Boyle, a friend of Newton, pursued alchemical studies enthusiastically side by side with his studies of a more rational nature.
Newton was deeply religious and felt he had a divine mission to understand the Lord as evidenced in the nature of the world which He created. Towards this end he was prepared to study anything that might illuminate his path - science, the bible, mythology, etc. It is not surprising therefore that he decided intensively to investigate alchemy to see what it might yield. After all, it promised much.
There is a concept in alchemy called "active principles", which is a spirit force that can act on matter without interchanging with it. White proposes, as have some other authors in the past, that Newton's familiarity with this idea allowed him to visualise how gravity could operate through "action at a distance". The idea of gravity as formulated by Newton is that every particle is attracted to every other particle in the universe by a force (gravity) that is proportional to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The proposal that alchemy assisted Newton's imagination in formulating his understanding of gravity is reasonable.
Newton began the phase of modern science as we know it. As he said himself, "I do not invest hypotheses." He only published scientific work that he could explain mathematically and demonstrate with careful experimental observations. He stood at the junction between the old and the new world and he was capable of holding both in his mind at the same time.
White's book gives a good flavour of the times and provides many fascinating details. Newton occupied the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge (today held by Stephen Hawking). His lectures were very poorly attended; frequently no students turned up. On such occasions Newton would deliver a truncated version of his lecture to the wall!
The nature of scientific discovery is nicely analysed in the book. The idea of the sudden flash of inspiration is quite properly dismissed. The story of Newton sitting in the orchard and being inspired by seeing the apply fall is just that - a story. Newton developed and matured his idea of gravity slowly over a twenty-year period.
Great discoveries are made by hard work, concentration and a prepared mind, not by sudden flashes of inspiration. Late in life Newton was asked how he had made such a huge contribution to science. He replied: "By thinking of nothing else."
William Reville is a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at UCC, and writes the `Science Today' column in The Irish Times