Newton the Alchemist

Butterfield, Keynes, Dobbs and Westfall disagreed about how important alchemy was to Newton and to the development of modern science, but they all shared the assumption that it was part of an ‘occult’ tradition, to be categorised alongside astrology and magic. And we come to realise that Newton’s alchemical activities had nothing to do with his heterodox religion, with any other ‘occult’ pursuits or with his final explanation of universal gravitation. A reader who wants to understand this but is daunted by the detail of Newman’s work would do well to begin with Niccolò Guicciardini’s Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy, published last year, which incorporates some of Newman’s previously published findings into a wonderfully clear account of Newton’s scientific thought as a whole.

Source: literaryreview.co.uk