0 ABOUT this NOVEL
Today, the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (hereinafter referred to as "Principles") is known to almost everyone. This "divine work" officially introduced Newton's three laws and the law of universal gravitation to the world, the world in Aristotle's doctrine lost its prestige, and the last bit of "shadow" in the Middle Ages dissipated, and since then, people have strides into a new era of advocating science. Newton once told others that the most wonderful laws in the book were inspired by an apple, and the apple became a certain personal symbol of Newton. Behind an apple, however, is an era of rapid change but turmoil, and Newton's twenty years of accumulation and persistence.
"Not doing the right thing" for a working student
ABOUT this NOVEL
On 5 June 1661, Newton was enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Just the year before, two major events had happened in Britain. One is the return of Charles II, who is in exile, and the other is the establishment of the Royal Society. Britain had been in chaos for many years, and after the execution of Charles I, the power was once taken by Cromwell and taken away by his son. People were bitter and bored, and felt that instead of tossing and turning, it was better to find a monarch who was justified in name and steady.
This means that the UK is about to enter a period of relative peace, and the Royal Academy can be said to be the right time. A few years later, the Italian Chimanto Academy was dissolved, Italy, which had been culturally dominant by the Renaissance, declined, and the center of scientific rise was about to shift to Britain.
However, at this time, Newton may not feel that he has "caught up with the good times". He was gifted but financially strapped, and although he was allowed to enter Cambridge University, he faced a disparity in treatment. At that time, Cambridge divided students into three classes, the aristocratic young masters could get their degrees almost without exams, the self-funded students were mainly the reserves of Anglican priests, and the working students like Newton had to serve other students, running errands, eating leftovers, and even cleaning the toilet. This somewhat humiliating provision made the working students have a high drop-out rate, and further made the aristocratic young masters feel that they did not have to be kind to poor classmates. Newton, who has always lacked the love of his parents, is already introverted and sensitive, which makes it more difficult for him to integrate into the environment.
If you can't fit in with the crowd, then concentrate on your homework - partial in-class learning can't satisfy Newton's curiosity.
The university curriculum at that time undertook the system formed by the medieval academic revival, with the "how Aristotle was" and "how God was" and "how God was". However, more than a hundred years ago, Columbus discovered a new continent that had nothing to do with the Bible, and a few decades ago, Tycho found a new star that could not be explained by Aristotle's theory. The loopholes in the old system have long been too obvious, and many people have raised the importance and possibility of building a new system. Bacon wrote The New West Island, Copernicus wrote The Theory of Celestial Motion, Descartes wrote The Methodology, Kepler wrote The New Astronomy and The Harmony of the Universe... However, the university classroom is still taught the same way.
This arrangement made Newton's confusion undiminished but increased. Finally, one day, he wrote in his notebook: "I am a friend of Plato, I am a friend of Aristotle, but my better friend is the truth." The same notebook records a number of questions, including questions about forces and celestial bodies.
Fortunately, in those days, universities had limited acceptance and exclusion of the results of science forefathers. Many of the new works are in the Collection of Trinity College Library. So Newton began to read "idle books" with hunger. In the eyes of outsiders, he was like a strange monk who didn't know what he was practicing. But what Newton reaped was true happiness, and that was how he forgot his troubles.
His obsession with extracurricular knowledge even influenced Newton's in-class studies, and he earned a bachelor's degree with second class grades. According to tradition at the time, students with good grades could take back the silver coins paid to the examiner, and Newton was a "person who lost silver coins" and was to be laughed at.
But those who laughed at him obviously did not know that Newton had given up the silver coin and reaped something more precious.
Dropping an apple is nothing
In 1665, the Black Death swept through Europe, and Newton returned home from Cambridge to take refuge.
It was undoubtedly a terrible disaster, wiping out at least 75,000 people in London alone. Defoe's "The Age of the Plague," written on this material, exudes despair on almost every page. Yet in his clean rural hometown, Newton found an enviable state of life.
By this time, he had begun to think concretely about the movement of celestial bodies that affected people's worldview. The geocentric model is obviously unconvincing, but there is still a lot to be explored beyond "who goes around whom". For example, why the stars revolve, and what is the difference and connection between the movement of surface objects and the movement of celestial bodies, and so on. The second question was not even clear to Galileo, although he not only saw the cratered moon through the telescope, proved that the perfect celestial body in the mouth of the ancient Greek masters was an imagination, but also summed up the relationship between acceleration and motion.
Legend has it that Newton witnessed the fall of an apple while thinking on his farm. Newton himself mentioned this, so it should not be entirely made up. Perhaps Apple did provide inspiration for Newton to link object drops to celestial orbits, but he also needed to verify whether this was the truth or a wild idea.
The verification method is the calculation. By this time he had mastered the most complex mathematics of his time and was familiar with the existing knowledge of astronomy and physics, but the process of verification was not smooth, and Newton had stopped and turned on this research, and it was valuable that he had never lost confidence and interest.
However, there is a seemingly simple question that he has not thought clearly: what should he do with his own research?
After the plague ended, Newton returned to Cambridge and got a job as a researcher. Soon, Barrow, a senior who appreciated Newton, began to encourage him to publish his results, but he was always hesitant.
Newton's biggest motivation for doing research was not to publish it. Later, he confessed that scientific exploration for him was the joy of a child picking up shells and strange stones on the beach. That's a true statement. In addition, in those days, the writing-review-publication of academic achievements and opinions was not as standardized as it is now. The proceedings of the Royal Society also have a hint of anecdote magazine ethos, Hooke's Micrograph is more or less used as a hunting album, and Galileo's Dialogue between the Two World Systems is carried out in the form of virtual character dialogues. Some people have developed by writing, and some people have been criticized by the world and even persecuted because of this. The cautiousness of the sensitive and introverted Newton did not seem unreasonable.
But Barrow's push was effective, and under his guidance, Newton forged a connection with the Royal Society, which praised Newton's homemade reflecting telescope. This changed his mentality, and he came up with his own optical research, but this time it was the bad words of the old member Hooke who waited for Newton. The two quarreled for a long time and became one of the most famous nemesis in the history of science.
Newton's enthusiasm once again fell to a freezing point, and he was even more reluctant to publish than before. By this time he had taken over Barrow's class and had become a professor of mathematics, but still lived a hermit life. The concentrated work of the "Plague Year" led him to invent calculus, and in the days that followed, he continued to use this new mathematics to build a mechanical system that unified the stars and mortal things against various astronomical data. Many of the theorems that were later written into the Principia already had eyebrows, but after calculation, reflection and revision, the manuscript would always be locked in a drawer by Newton, as if it would never appear in front of the eyes of the world.
The Birth of the Principia: A Difficult Birth
In 1684, Halley visited Newton at Cambridge University— the same Halley of Halley's Comet.
Before that, he had asked Hooke if the force that orbited the planet was inversely proportional to the planet's distance from the sun. Hooke replied in the affirmative, but could not come up with a basis. After the disappointment, Halley thought of coming to Newton to ask him.
Halley is very measured in his dealings with the world. Newton was so impressed with this sensible junior that he promised to provide detailed proof. But he still had concerns in his mind. Halley waited three months before he finally saw the "Orbiting Object Study."
After reading this certificate, Halley immediately decided to help Newton publish the results. With his sincere and patient encouragement, Newton's attitude finally loosened. Newton began to organize a series of studies of his decades and twenties, ready to be published as Principles.
But he still thought carefully, not only deliberately writing the book in classical Latin, but also banning the publication of the English version for the rest of his life. Unlike those who wanted to write bestsellers, Newton wanted to screen readers so that people with limited literacy and insufficient logical thinking could not read the book and then make random evaluations. In his own words, it is "to avoid being disturbed by people who know nothing about mathematics."
The proofs and calculations involved in the Principia are not simple in themselves, and with this writing, the author's work will certainly be more energy-intensive. According to the assistant who assisted him in sorting out the manuscript at the time, Newton often stayed up until two or three in the morning, even five or six in the morning, often sleeping for only four or five hours, and sometimes forgetting to eat.
In addition to Cambridge, the publication of the Principles encountered a more realistic problem, that is, lack of money. Supposedly, the Royal Society should have provided support in this matter, but the Society had just released the dismal sales of "History of Fish" and was now shy. The Council even paid salaries with unsalable copies of The History of Fish. Coupled with the sneering jokes of old rival Hooke, things don't look optimistic.
During this period, Charles II died suddenly, and his successor, James II, was Catholic and wanted to introduce the power of the Holy See. For a time, the situation was turbulent, and Britain was pushed to the brink of civil war. Does this mean that Newton may have been persecuted by Galileo because of his new book? For a time, such problems made Newton, who was already stressful, even more headache.
But the old days were gone, and James II would soon be stripped of his crown in the Glorious Revolution. The feudal theological atmosphere does not dissipate instantaneously, but after a long tug-of-war, it will still completely give way to the new atmosphere.
So what is the new atmosphere leading? The Renaissance played the retro flag, but there was a clear need for a system that better reflected the future. Science, a more rigorous science distinct from the old one, will provide a new spiritual fulcrum for society. She has appeared, but the world is waiting for her to marvel at history in its best form.
Finally, with Harley's selfless help in financial and other matters, Newton officially published Principles the year before the Glorious Revolution.
The book didn't cause trouble and made him a hero in people's hearts. In the early days of publication, because of the difficulty of reading, "Principles" did experience desertion. But after a while, European academic journals published book reviews, and scholars did not hesitate to dedicate praise to the Principles. Newton rose to fame.
This is almost an inevitable result. The world presented in "Principles" has mathematical bones, physical flesh and blood, and philosophical temperament. It describes a universe without so-called perfection and miracles, but exudes the beauty of nature in the laws of mathematics. It gives people reason to escape God's authority while still believing in the order of all things. It overturns the conclusion that the universe is human-centered, but proves that human beings can explore the boundless world with the power of reason. Since then, the old system has no longer been possible to argue, and the rise of science has reached its peak.
The success of The Principia certainly changed Newton's life, and the increased socialization prompted him to consider leaving academia. The playing child is eventually attracted to the mundane world outside the beach, but he has never been completely detached from science. More importantly, he has found the gem that drives the progress of civilization and dedicated it to the world, and this gem has drawn more people to the sea of truth.
A new era has begun.
Write at the end
In the second half of the 17th century, the Principia gave Newton the gods. To this day, Newton remains a spiritual icon for many. At the same time, there are people who like to dig into Newton's dark side, talk about his alchemical hobbies, and talk about his "bad deeds" after becoming an official. Magical geniuses, prolific scholars, reclusive freaks, the last alchemists... These claims all make sense, but none of them generalize the real Newton.
The real Newton, like us, needs to face the plight of ordinary people. However, his love and dedication to exploration has allowed him to go beyond the ordinary and leave a strong mark on history. Today, when we look back on the past, the most important thing we should see is not the glorious stroke, but the background that contributed to it, the past, and the choices Newton made in it.
All of this is in The Biography of Newton.
Read more
[1] The Biography of Newton, People's Post and Telecommunications Press, 2021
[2] The Course of Science, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2018
The Biography of Newton
Author: James Gleick
Translator: Ou Yu
The classic biography of James Gleick, author of "A Brief History of Information", which won the Wenjin Book Award, was shortlisted for the "Pulitzer Prize" and recommended by the New York Times, The Times and other media, a classic biography worth reading.
This biography is a classic of many works about Newton's life, and is loved and respected by the scientific community and general readers. Using Newton's important letters and unpublished notes, Gleick recounts the life experiences of one of the greatest figures in science, the people associated with him, and the important events that affected him, outlining the life of this visionary "great man" and "freak" and the full picture of the historical period in which he lived.
The formation of Newton's thought, his major achievements in philosophy, physics, optics and calculus, and the ancient, intuitive, alchemical universe that gave birth to "Newtonian mathematics" are all in front of the author's popular and profound interpretation.
Photo: Angel