Useful Notes / Isaac Newton

"The day that apple fell on my head was the most momentous day in the history of science."^*Stephen Hawking: Not the apple story again!

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! — and all was light.

— Alexander Pope

Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 - 20 March 1726 Julian calendar, 4 January 1643 - 31 March 1727 Gregorian calendar) was a revolutionary British scientist best remembered for his Accidental Discovery of gravity, which we all know can be a harsh mistress. Contemporary portraits suggest he looked like Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin and Brian May after he turned grey^note May, by the way, has a Ph.D in physics..

To elaborate, Isaac Newton is the originator of the Three Laws of Motion and the classical theory of universal gravitation (in popular imagery, after seeing an apple fall from a tree/after an apple fell on his head).^note Before Newton, people were fairly sure Aristotle was wrong about the idea that earthly and heavenly bodies are subject to different laws of motion, but until Newton nobody really understood the mathematics of what the rules were — hence "universal", since it applies to all objects everywhere. "Classical" is because it was proven to be wrong by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, but it remains useful as an infinitesimally close approximation under ordinary conditions — i.e. far from very massive objects like black holes and stars, or at velocities likely to be experienced by normal people. Born on December 25, 1642 (i.e. Christmas day, not very long after Galileo Galilei died), the physicist was a Renaissance Man and dabbled in astronomy, mathematics, alchemy and theology. His work on gravity would lend further credence to heliocentrism (the belief that the Sun, and not the Earth, is the centre of the Solar System). To derive the equations for motion in his Principia Mathematica, he had to invent integral calculus out of whole cloth. He was one of the trope codifiers for the concept of Equivalent Exchange ("for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction") and the idea of a rational, regular universe—the idea that there are certain laws of nature that are always true, everywhere. This idea has become so entrenched in popular thought that, when further work by Albert Einstein on the extreme scales of the universe proved that his conclusions aren't applicable everywhere, the larger body of scientific research since then—including that by Einstein—has revolved around the idea of reconciling the two and restoring (our understanding of) the physical universe to a single, overarching theory.

Ironically, in his lifetime he was better known for being Warden and then Master of the Royal Mint—jobs which, doubly ironically, were meant to be sinecures to give him extra income to support his scientific career. Instead, he took his coinage jobs seriously, and during his tenure at the Mint he introduced the practice of milling coins — putting a decorative border on them so it would be obvious if pieces had been clipped off. This was important because of a practice at the time where criminals would clip the edges off coins, keep the bits of precious metal to melt down, and pass off the clipped coin at its full value, weakening the currency (and thus causing inflation). This is remembered in the edge inscription of the modern British pound, DECUS ET TUTAMEN ("an ornament and a safeguard").^note Except in years when the inscription is NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT ("No one assaults me with impunity"), the Scottish national motto, or PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD ("I am faithful to my country"), a quote from the unofficial Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" ("Land of My Fathers"). Newton is also commemorated in the edge description of the two pound coin (whose tail side bears a representation of scientific and technological progress^note that wouldn't actually work) with his relevant quote STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS. (On being praised for his scientific insight: "If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants."^note although this may actually have been a short-guy joke aimed at his rival Robert Hooke, with whom he had the type of relationship that Thomas Edison would later have with Nikola Tesla) He also became possibly the most badass inflation-fighter in history, personally going undercover to taverns and so on to catch counterfeiters and clippers and collect evidence to prosecute them at trial — which he would then go on to do, as he was a justice of the peace (at the time more of an investigatory and prosecutorial position rather than a judicial one) in every county. Newton successfully prosecuted 28 counterfeiters while in office, most prominently William Chaloner, who was more or less his archnemesis during this period.^note A particularly unpleasant scammer who had gotten rich off of setting up phony Catholic conspiracies and then turning in the poor idiots who went along with him. He then moved into the counterfeiting game by claiming—again falsely—that the Mint was helping counterfeiters by giving them tools, and then proposing that he be allowed to inspect the Mint tools to "improve" them and make them counterfeiting-proof, while really just trying to make the best possible fakes. He also inadvertently switched Great Britain from a bimetallic system to the gold standard by setting the ratio of the value of the gold guinea (and other gold coins) to the value of the silver penny in a way that heavily favoured gold (due in part to the Spanish discovering huge gold deposits in Brazil and the subsequent recalculations to the price of gold and silver), leading to a mass exodus of silver from the country.^note This led to a very long silver crisis in Britain, one that eventually led to the Opium Wars when the silver finally ran out, and China at the time would only take payment in silver. His tomb in Westminster Abbey references this financial career rather than his scientific one.

He is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space. Also the inventor of the cat flap. Or so the legend claims.

He had a lonely, unhappy childhood, which may have been because he was much, much smarter than anyone else around him. Even after he became a professor at Cambridge he frequently lectured to an empty classroom. Contemporary accounts peg him as an Insufferable Genius; he was given the nickname "The Autocrat of Science" by Frank E. Manuel. He never married and was strongly suspected to have died a virgin, but this piece of trivia can never be completely verified; the possibility also exists that he was gay. It was only when he began corresponding with Christopher Wren and the other members of the Royal Society in London that he began to blossom as England's leading scientist.

Works featuring Isaac Newton:

Anime and Manga

• It turns out that Newton himself is the Big Bad Emperor in The Vision of Escaflowne.
• In Nobunagun, he's reincarnated in the present day as a woman named Jess Beckman who has Gravity Master powers.

Art

• William Blake created a colour copper entitled "Newton" in 1795. It's intended as a hostile caricature of Newton as doomed materialist, but is widely misinterpreted as heroic.

Comics

• He is the main character — sort of — of Gotlib's Rubrique-à-Brac, in what could be the longest Running Gag ever (something landing on his head, leading to his discovering the universal law of gravitation).
• He appeared at the end of a Pitheco story Centuries after Pitheco failed to pitch the famous discovery.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010) revealed that Newton was a member of what'd become S.H.I.E.L.D. — and is immortal.

Film

• Mentioned very briefly in Apollo 13. When Jim Lovell powers down the LEM's reaction-control thrusters to save battery power, he remarks, "And that's it. We just put Sir Isaac Newton in the driver's seat."
• Harpo Marx played him in "The Story of Mankind".

Literature

• Alexander Pope wrote an epitaph for Newton.
• He is an important character in Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, where he took the job at the mint and moved England to the gold standard because he was trying find Solomonic gold (a raw material for the making of the Philosopher's Stone), which was accidentally put into general circulation as currency because of a quirk of fate involving a few vagabonds. He put England onto the Gold Standard and regiggled the exchange rate so that all the gold in the world will circulate through England at some point, allowing him to test them at his leisure. After all, historians did refer to Newton as the last alchemist.
• Robert Langdon visits his tomb in The Da Vinci Code.
• Is the codifier of all (European) Magic in the Rivers of London books, and the reason all spells are in Gratuitous Latin.
• Missed meeting wizards from the Unseen University in The Science of Discworld II: The Globe having just stepped out for some fresh air when they pop in. It was probably for the best. A footnote in the science text says that if anyone on Roundworld was going to discover laws of magic it would be him. This inspired his role in Rivers of London.
• Major character in the Age of Unreason series, not surprising when the first book is called Newton's Cannon. The book opens with Newton successfully making alchemy work, and goes from there.

Live-Action TV

• Star Trek: Newton turns up twice.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: Newton appears as a hologram, playing cards against Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and (non-holographic) Data.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: Newton is briefly transported onto the Voyager by a Q, who mentions that, if he never had gotten the inspiration to put forth the notion of gravity, he would have died penniless in debtor's prison... and a suspect in several prostitute murders.
• One Hundred Greatest Britons: Newton was voted to #6 by British viewers.
• Kamen Rider Ghost: Newton is one of fifteen main Eyecons, based on fifteen different historical people. In this form, Takeru as Ghost armed with orb-shaped gloves that allows him to attract or repel his enemies. He also can use the gloves as makeshift boxing gloves to deliver powerful punches.
• Doctor Who: He appears in the pre-credits of "Wild Blue Yonder" which sees the Doctor and Donna crashing the TARDIS into the apple tree he's sitting under. Donna can't resist making a "gravity of the situation" pun, which Newton mishears as "mavity" causing a minor Cosmic Retcon for the rest of the episode.

Tabletop Games

• Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization: He's an Age II leader.

Video Games

• As mentioned in the intro, the First Law is referenced in Mass Effect 2 as the reason one does not "eyeball" the firing of a kinetic kill munition that travels at significant fractions of lightspeed. Space may be virtually infinite, but there is always a chance you'll hit something, whether it's in 10 seconds or 10,000 years.

Webcomics

• Plays the Only Sane Man in Frederick the Great, where he is literal math wizard. Notably, he once held a symposium to discover the secret of time travel- a symposium where every member was an alternate version of himself.
• In Irregular Webcomic!, Newton is a time-travelling historical badass.

Web Original

• He battles Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson in Epic Rap Battles of History.

Western Animation

• Featured in the animated segments of 2014's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, being an incredibly important figure in the history of science and physics.
• The Simpsons: In "The Last Temptation of Homer" Homer's guardian angel appears to him in the guise of Newton, assuming that Homer would recognize him. Homer does not, so he transforms himself to Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes.
• He was featured in an episode of Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.

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