Isaac Newton and His Enemies
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
David Wolfe, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of New Mexico, and Director, Oppenheimer Institute for Science and International Cooperation. Isaac Newton has a good claim to being the most famous man of the last 500 years. Whilst no individual can claim to be the originator of what has come to be called the Scientific Revolution, surely Isaac Newton is more responsible than any other single person. If we look at the technology on which our modern world is based - from the existence of electricity to transport to telecommunications and much else - all are based on the science which developed from the 18th century onwards. The Enlightenment, itself, and the concept of the individual, all developed as a result of his thinking. Even the reaction to these ideas from Romanticism to Fascism came about because of the rise of intellectual enquiry. Yet Newton does not fit the picture of 'the scientist' that we hold today. He spent more of his life thinking about alchemy and religion than he did about mathematics or physics. Moreover, he was one of history's greatest misanthropes. Left by his mother at three years of age, he appears never to have recovered from that trauma. This course will investigate Newton's life and work in relation to his achievements and also to his arguments with such people as Robert Hooke, John Flamsteed - the first Astronomer Royal, and Gottfried Leibniz- the codiscoverer of the calculus. An astounding genius, Newton was a deeply flawed human being.
- Subject:
- Humanities, Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
- Post-secondary
- Collection:
- University of Capetown