Sir Isaac Newton: World Ends in 2060

[PhotoJones]

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.
Newton, who died 280 years ago, is known for laying much of the groundwork for modern physics, astronomy, math and optics. But in a new Jerusalem exhibit, he appears as a scholar of deep faith who also found time to write on Jewish law -- even penning a few phrases in careful Hebrew letters -- and combing the Old Testament's Book of Daniel for clues about the world's end.
The documents, purchased by a Jewish scholar at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1936, have been kept in safes at Israel's national library in Jerusalem since 1969. Available for decades only to a small number of scholars, they have never before been shown to the public.
In one manuscript from the early 1700s, Newton used the cryptic Book of Daniel to calculate the date for the apocalypse, reaching the conclusion that the world would end no earlier than 2060.
"It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner," Newton wrote. However, he added, "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."
In another document, Newton interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends. The end of days will see "the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews captivity and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom," he posited.
The exhibit also includes treatises on daily practice in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. In one document, Newton discussed the exact dimensions of the temple -- its plans mirrored the arrangement of the cosmos, he believed -- and sketched it. Another paper contains words in Hebrew, including a sentence taken from the Jewish prayerbook.
Yemima Ben-Menahem, one of the exhibit's curators, said the papers show Newton's conviction that important knowledge was hiding in ancient texts.
"He believed there was wisdom in the world that got lost. He thought it was coded, and that by studying things like the dimensions of the temple, he could decode it," she said.
The Newton papers, Ben-Menahem said, also complicate the idea that science is diametrically opposed to religion. "These documents show a scientist guided by religious fervor, by a desire to see God's actions in the world," she said.
More prosaic documents on display show Newton keeping track of his income and expenses while a scholar at Cambridge and later, as master of the Royal Mint, negotiating with a group of miners from Devon and Cornwall about the price of the tin they supplied to Queen Anne.
The archives of Hebrew University in Jerusalem include a 1940 letter from Albert Einstein to Abraham Shalom Yahuda, the collector who purchased the papers a year earlier.
Newton's religious writings, Einstein wrote, provide "a variety of sketches and ongoing changes that give us a most interesting look into the mental laboratory of this unique thinker."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/18/newton.papers.ap/index.html

 

[Carcharodon]

Yeah, I've heard about this. I watched a documentary on it. He was involved in plenty of strange activities, like alchemy. Few people also know that he was deeply religious.

 

[The Question]

Isaac Newton was fairly badass. This simply confirms it.

 

[redmarvel]

Your thread title is misleading photojones2

In one manuscript from the early 1700s, Newton used the cryptic Book of Daniel to calculate the date for the apocalypse, reaching the conclusion that the world would end no earlier than 2060.
"It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner," Newton wrote. However, he added, "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."

You now join the ranks of "fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end"

 

[Spider-Bite]

People have been using religion to say the end of the world is coming for a very long time, and numerous dates have been set.

I beleive it's coming in the next few decades, and part of what makes it so much more likely is the religous views around it. Using the bible to talk about the end of the world only makes it more likely to happen. It's like talking yourself into failing.

 

[TNC9852002]

I'll be surprised if I live to see 75.

So...

-TNC

 

[Ice-man]

12/21/2012

il be legal to drink for only 2 months, so on that day im getting wasted.


if nothing happens ill wait and see on 2060.

 

[AhabTheArab]

the Comet Apathos

April 13, 2029 it will come closer to the earth than even the moon, if our gravity shifts it randomly, it will swing back around in a decade or so, and could annihilate the entire earth.

lost a lot of respect for "sir" isaac newton....

 

[deathshead2]

They say the world will end on 2012. That year i'll be 22. I don't want to die that soon. So 2060 is good with me. I'll be 70 and by that time like most of my family that reachs that age i'll be crazy. So I won't notice the world ending.

 

[Cinemaman]

I don't care, cause by 2060 I will be 70 and I doubt I will get to this age as almost all my family's members have heart problems.

 

[Zombie_samurai]

Some people thought the world was going to end on 6/6/06 so....

 

[Carcharodon]

the Comet Apathos

April 13, 2029 it will come closer to the earth than even the moon, if our gravity shifts it randomly, it will swing back around in a decade or so, and could annihilate the entire earth.

lost a lot of respect for "sir" isaac newton....

I hear ya, man...I mean, pfft, he's only the father of modern physics. Oh, and he invented calculus. Oooooh!

Seriously, what's he done for us lately?

 

[PLAS]

what I find really funny is how there's a lot that say "I don't want to die before I'm ___"

come on!!!! instead of worrying on the age and conditions you are in when the truck hits you, why not trying to focus on enjoying and living each day to its fullest?

I guess moaning is easier

 

[The Question]

I don't think it's moaning. I think everyone's just saying that if they have to perish in a firey, nightmarish apocalypse, they'd rather it were later than sooner.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

If I live long enough, I'll prepare myself & lock myself somewhere with Spider-Man stuff, a good pillow blanket, & some food & beverages. I'll also make sure I have a toilet & plenty of tp. I'm set.

 

[chaseter]

Meh I will be 75 come that year so I will be good to go.

 

[Two-Face]

I will be 77 if I live to see it. if the world ends it ends I have no problem there.

 

[Swordmaster]

Oh, and he invented calculus. Oooooh!

Yeah, I'm still pissed at him for that

 

[Carcharodon]

Yeah, I'm still pissed at him for that

You and my girlfriend. t:

 

[gap5ewl]

lets hope he's wrong.

 

[OverMyHead]

I doubt it.

Someone please post up Nastradamus prediction of human beings turning into cannabals, and the earth drying up from severe drought, and around the world the sea level rises. Nastradamus predicted it. Let's see if it comes true.

 

[Warhammer]

I'll be 69 when this happens.
That's long enough.

Besides, I don't believe in this BS anyway.

 

[Kritish]

Nuts have been saying that the world’s going to forever. Just because this guy was right about a lot of stuff doesn’t mean that he can predict the end of the world. The same principle goes for the Mayans.

 

[chaseter]

Nuts have been saying that the world’s going to forever. Just because this guy was right about a lot of stuff doesn’t mean that he can predict the end of the world. The same principle goes for the Mayans.

And Nostredamus