Basso53 wrote:
Oh, I had heard that some Bible-thumpers in the States got their panties twisted over something he said, but I didn't know it was something as innocuous as this. Of course, if he actually was born on the 25th of December in 1642, that was when the Julian calendar was still in use, and his birthday under our modern Gregorian calendar is still a few days away.
Whether or not Sir Isaac Newton was actually born on Christmas Day,
it's the fact that he is venerated for his secular accomplishment that put those fundies' knickers in a twist. He formulated the Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation, and is credited with developing the Calculus. He laid to rest the idea of a heliocentric universe, and developed the first
practical refracting telescope.
Also, according to Wikipedia ...
Quote:
Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian and, unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, [i\he refused to take holy orders in the Church of England[/i], perhaps because he privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of biblical chronology and alchemy, but most of his work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. In his later life, Newton became president of the Royal Society. Newton served the British government as Warden and Master of the Royal Mint.
His life also marked the boundary between the Age of Superstition and the Age of Reason. This alone seems to have made him a virtual "Enemy of the State of Christendom".
Regardless, we have much to thank Sir Issac for.
His cenotaph at St. Paul's Cathedral reads ...
Quote:
"Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25 December 1642, and died on 20 March 1726/7"
And finally, there is actual proof that he existed! His writings are extant, his birth and death are recorded with specific dates, and his body was autopsied and still lies in a tomb where grave-robbers would dare not tread.
So, here we have a person whose actions changed humanity's understanding of the universe and their place within it. We know who he was and what he looked like. We know who both of his parents were. And we know all of this
because he was real.
_________________
“I must acknowledge, once and for all, that the
purpose of diplomacy is to prolong a crisis.”
— Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, in the Star Trek
episode "The Mark of Gideon" (ep. 3-16, 1969)
27 Dec 2014, 10:41 pm
