Newton's Gift

The proverbial apple falling on his head and eventually inspiring the discovery of the theory of gravity and the three laws of motion is what most of us in non academic circles would recollect when we hear “Newton”. David Berlinski’s book, “Newton’s Gift” reveals a lot more about the life & times of Newton that we otherwise do not know.

Strangely for a physicist, it is his work on infinite series & the method of fluxions (what later Leibniz would formalize as Calculus) - which Newton laid out in a period of just one & half years that he spent at his ancestral home in Woolsthrope during the plague - is what made Newton visible among intellectual circles in Cambridge and he was offered the chair of Lucasian professor of Mathematics at Cambridge which was also his alma mater.

Berlinski’s book chronicles little know aspects of Newton’s life such as his obsession with alchemy and his study of biblical studies and the fact that adopted Arianism as a system of belief.

Berlinski’s description of Newton working endlessly in his quarters in Cambridge venturing out for nothing but a quiet walk to get food, gives us a glimpse of the near maniacal & single minded pursuit of work that Newton embarked on.

The legendary feuds between Newton & Robert Hooke first and Leibniz later are interesting and reveal a lot about professional hatred and dislikes of those times.

Newton’s dislike for Hooke began with Newton presenting before the Royal Society in London his microscope which was a much more improved version of what Hooke had proposed. Hooke claimed Newton had merely borrowed what he had already proposed. His hatred for Hooke even prompted Newton to remove Hooke’s picture from the Royal Society offices soon after Newton became the chair person of the society much after Hooke had passed away.

Leibniz & Newton warred over who would stake claim to the discovery of calculus. Newton had applied calculus to explain natural philosophy in his first magnum opus, the Principia, while Leibniz had given it an elegant form and method in mathematics.

A little known fact is Newton serving as the master of the mint in London and his crack down on counterfeiters.

Berlinski’s book is interesting in what it reveals about the lesser known aspects of Newton life. I suppose it is hard to write a book on such a legendary personality when there is not much background material to research. Berlinski however pulls it off and the story telling is fairly good. His language is however overly metaphorical many times when he discusses the details of Newton’s theories and that sometimes makes it hard to read.

I picked up this book on a good discount at a sale in December 2007 and finally read it in May 2009. There may be other books about Newton that I don’t know of but this book certainly succeeded is making me more curious about Newton’s life and has prompted me to look around for more books on the genius.