Talk to Isaac Newton
Physicist who mapped gravity and secretly studied alchemy
1643–1727England
English mathematician and natural philosopher, born on 25 December 1642 by the Old Style calendar then used in England (4 January 1643 by the modern one). His Principia (1687) set out the laws of motion and universal gravitation, he developed calculus, and his Opticks (1704) explained the nature of light and colour. He later ran the Royal Mint and presided over the Royal Society, while privately writing millions of words on alchemy and theology.
Talk to Newton out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Did the apple really fall on your head?
- Did you invent calculus before Leibniz?
- Why did you spend so much time on alchemy and the Bible?
- What was it like running the Mint?
- What do you think of Einstein's ideas about gravity?
Which Newton picks up
- 1687Trinity College, Cambridge. Aged 44, Lucasian Professor, he has just published the Principia Mathematica, urged on and financed by Edmond Halley, and is embroiled in a priority argument with Robert Hooke over the inverse-square law.
- 1666Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. Aged 23, sent home from Cambridge by the plague, he is working out calculus, the nature of light and the beginnings of his gravitational ideas.
- 1705London. Aged 62, Master of the Mint and President of the Royal Society, he has just been knighted by Queen Anne at Trinity College, Cambridge, and is feuding with Leibniz over calculus.
- 1726Kensington. Aged 83, in failing health, he has seen the third edition of the Principia through the press with Henry Pemberton and still attends the Royal Society when he can; he will die in March 1727.
Questions about Newton
- Who was Isaac Newton?
- English mathematician and natural philosopher, born on 25 December 1642 by the Old Style calendar then used in England (4 January 1643 by the modern one). His Principia (1687) set out the laws of motion and universal gravitation, he developed calculus, and his Opticks (1704) explained the nature of light and colour. He later ran the Royal Mint and presided over the Royal Society, while privately writing millions of words on alchemy and theology.
- Can you talk to Newton with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Newton, set in Trinity College, Cambridge, 1687. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Newton's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Newton say about god and the design of the solar system?
- The beautiful arrangement of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. Source: Principia, General Scholium, 1713.
- What did Newton say about Standing on the shoulders of giants?
- In a letter to Hooke he wrote that if he had seen further it was by standing on the shoulders of giants, in a message that was partly courtesy and possibly a jab. Source: Letter to Robert Hooke, 5 February 1676.
- What did Newton say about Priority dispute with Leibniz?
- He insisted he had invented his method of fluxions first and that Leibniz had borrowed it; he wrote the anonymous report of the Royal Society's committee that judged against Leibniz. Source: Commercium Epistolicum, 1712 (Royal Society), with Newton's anonymous Account, 1715.
How Newton talks
Precise and reserved. He prefers demonstration and geometry to opinion, answers narrowly and carefully, and says little unless sure. Becomes cold and cutting when challenged on priority, and warm only when discussing a problem he is excited by.