Here's What Happens When You Screw With Isaac Newton

[cronus]

http://io9.com/heres-what-happens-when- ... 1690479177

Here's What Happens When You Screw With Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton reached the level of genius in two different disciplines: physics and making people miserable. This is a tale of his accomplishments in the latter discipline. The object of his scorn, this time, is a poor astronomer named John Flamsteed,who made the mistake of not being agreeable enough.

Flamsteed and Newton started their acquaintance on good terms. They spent the 1680s happily corresponding about two lights in the sky, seen in 1680, which were either two comets or one comet that made two trips by Earth. This got Flamsteed interested in cataloging the heavens. If enough information was compiled about the lay of the night sky, astronomers would be able to understand all kinds of things about the shape of the universe and how its various pieces worked. By the mid-1690s, Flamsteed was the Astronomer Royal and was making a star catalogue which he would publish when it was completed.

Newton, meanwhile, believed that returning comets might be drawn to the Earth by some mysterious force. They might circle the Earth, in fact, the way the Moon circled the Earth. Perhaps, the force that drew the Moon and the comets might be the same. Newton wanted to study his "Moon's Theory," and to do so he needed the information in Flamsteed's catalogue, incomplete though it was. Newton had risen to the rank President of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge; the titles might leave one in doubt as to who had the power, but Newton's fame and connections far outstripped Flamsteed's. When Isaac Newton wanted information from the catalogue, he wanted it immediately, whether it was published or not.

(continued)

[Blind groper]

Newton was not a nice chap. His most famous quote, about achieving what he achieved 'because he stood on the shoulders of giants' was not a form of modesty. It was a harsh attack on another rival - Robert Hooke - who happened to be very short.

[cronus]

Newton was not a nice chap. His most famous quote, about achieving what he achieved 'because he stood on the shoulders of giants' was not a form of modesty. It was a harsh attack on another rival - Robert Hooke - who happened to be very short.

Who knows? I doubt it would have been a time where accuracy in reporting was guaranteed. And so many other men were short at the time - some would have been Newtons friends, as Newton understood the concept. One short guy ain't them all.

[Blind groper]

I quote from Dr. John Gribbon's book on the history of science, and he has gotta be right!

[cronus]

I quote from Dr. John Gribbon's book on the history of science, and he has gotta be right!

Can't argue with that. I weep for casting doubt. Can't argue them science books.

[JimC]

I don't give a Fig Newton...

[mistermack]

If Flamsteed was working for himself, I could understand his wish to keep his results to himself.
But as the Astronomer Royal, working with instruments that didn't belong to him, I think he had an obligation to publish his results.
Otherwise, what's the point of paying him, and letting him use the best instruments of the day?

[Hermit]

If Flamsteed was working for himself, I could understand his wish to keep his results to himself.

Flamsteed did not want to keep the results to himself. What he wanted to do was to publish when the data-set was complete and had been been double checked. Newton did not want to wait that long.

[mistermack]

If Flamsteed was working for himself, I could understand his wish to keep his results to himself.

Flamsteed did not want to keep the results to himself. What he wanted to do was to publish when the data-set was complete and had been been double checked. Newton did not want to wait that long.

Oh right, that's fair enough then. I suppose it depends on whether it was a reasonable project size.
If it was running into years, it might be reasonable to expect partial results to be published.

I know Newton could be a nasty piece of work, so it would be tempting to enjoy watching him twisting and turning.

[mistermack]

I just had a look at Newton's wiki page, and it says that after his death, they found high levels of mercury in his hair. So maybe he was being poisoned by his experiments, and that could account for some of his attitudes.
He did have a nervous breakdown at one point as well, so it might have been a complicated overall picture.