I was a science student in high school. I studied physics as a part of the regular curriculum. While the physics teacher taught us about the laws of motion and the concepts of gravity, force, acceleration, momentum, etc., he mentioned the name of Issac Newton – a scientist who had discovered and introduced these concepts and several other phenomenons based on these. That was the first time I heard Newton’s name. And ever since then I considered Isaac Newton as a great physicist.

How wrong I have been? He wasn’t only a great physicist, but also a great astronomer focused on the discovery, motion, and characterization of our planets including the sun, moon, earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. I never thought of Newton as an astronomer like Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, or Edmund Halley. How have I found Newton as an astronomer? From recently read Gale E. Christianson’s book on Isaac Newton.

This short note neither provides a review of this book nor dwells on the scientific research findings of Newton as these are well documented on several Internet sites. What I want to share with my readers is my view of Newton as a human-being as portrayed in this book.

Newton was born in rural England’s county of Lincoln in December 1942 (almost 300 hundred years before me). He was born in a well-to-do farm family headed by a not so literate father. He started as an average student during his early schooling, but by the time he was eleven years old, he was already mapping sun’s movements and shadows in his yard to tell the time of the day, and by twenty-four, he had already developed his theories of gravity, light, and mathematical subjects like calculus and trigonometry. Even though his family wanted him to look after the family’s farm and land holdings, his teachers seriously persuaded his mother to let him pursue higher education. What a loss it would have been to the scientific world had his mother gotten her way?

He studied, taught, and carried his scientific work at the University of Cambridge – one of the best two universities in England (the other is Oxford). As an individual, he spent his entire life without any close friend (with the exception of one person who stayed and worked with him for twenty years, including the time spent in a room shared at the university’s dormitory), immediate family or relatives (even though he had two brothers and a sister after his widowed mother re-married a rich farmer/landlord). Newton spent his solitary life totally immersed in books, reading, writing, and creative thinking – all leading to new frontiers and discoveries in science, mathematics, and astronomy. There were times he would be awake all night watching the movement of stars and planets, miss his scheduled meetings or appointments, miss, skip, or forget to eat his meals as his hunger of knowledge outweighed his hunger of food and life’s other essentials. He was simply dedicated to his scientific work and discoveries – so much so that nothing else mattered.

This bookish self-centered and introverted genius, on the other hand, wasn’t that good dealing with people – peers, competitors, or adversaries. Even when he headed the Royal Society and later the Royal Mint in London, he wouldn’t forget or forgive anyone who had done any harm to him, gone against his wishes, questioned his work and/or discovery, challenged his reputation, or claimed ownership of his work and/or discovery. This world-famous reputed and powerful scientist walked on his self-chosen path.

Sir Isaac Newton died at the age of eighty-four and was buried at Westminster Abbey in April 1727 (in the company of Charles Darwin and several Royals; the latest burial here was that of Stephen Hawking – another physicist from Cambridge).

Indeed, Newton was a great scientist, a real genius, and a prolific researcher/creator, but when it came to interacting with other people – both friends and foes – he was no different than any other creative and dedicated artist – being inward, safeguarding his/her territory, sensitive to any negativity or criticism of his/her work, and above all, seeking utmost contentment in his/her successfully completed and well acclaimed work. As a creative, analytic, and passionate writer, I can feel how lost and uncomfortable he would have felt outside his work domain. For creative and dedicated artists and inventors with one-track mind, their work is everything. They breathe work, live for work, and find all of their contentment in work. Successes and failures don’t affect them or slow them down. Their mission is to carry-on until they have successfully achieved what they wanted; once one mission is achieved, they instantly move on to another, and another. No rest, no pause is required as their fertile minds are ready to work on the next task.

I don’t think any common mortal can really comprehend what really goes on in the minds of such artists or inventors. In the eyes of the happy-go-lucky majority, such reclusive people are simply eye-sores, anti-social, and difficult to live with. These people are simply considered as misfits and outliers until their contribution, discovery, or invention improves the well-being of the society or people-at-large. Then these artists/inventors gain all the recognition and rewards for their hard and dedicated work. Unfortunately, it mostly happens long after their death.

Tags Newton, scientist/inventor/artist, creative, diligent worker, recluse, recognition.