Scott Harrison: Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
—Alexander Pope, "Epigram on Sir Isaac Newton"
It did not last: the Devil howling "Ho! Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo. —J. C. Squire (1884-1958), "Answer to Pope's Epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton"
When Newton saw an apple fall, he found...
A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round
In a most natural whirl, call "gravitation";
And thus is the sole mortal who could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall or with an apple.
—Byron, "Don Juan", X.i.
A calculus fit to compute on,
White light, and a head to drop fruit on,
A mind to absorb it,
And soar into orbit—
That's all that it takes to be Newton.
—Gina Berkeley
Return to Main Index
z