Newton: Ackroyd's Brief Lives

Overview

The third short biography in Peter Ackroyd's brilliant Brief Lives series, Newton is a companion volume to Chaucer and Turner.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is said to have made his greatest contributions to science in 1665-66 while at his parents' home in Lincolnshire escaping the Great Plague (which had closed the universities). It was at this fruitful time that he formulated calculus, hit upon the idea of gravity and performed experiments which showed that white light was made up of different coloured rays.

Newton wrote Principia, one of the most important books in the history of science, in which he proved the "laws of motion." He was also interested in the movements of the planets and designed his own telescope, and was as passionate about astrology as he was about astronomy. Newton dabbled in alchemy, and used the Bible to work out that the date of the earth's creation was 3,500 B.C.

Newton is a wonderful subject for a writer with Peter Ackroyd's imagination and flair: the alchemist, the magician, the thinker light years ahead of his time. Einstein wrote of Newton: "In one person, he combined the experimenter, the theorist, the mechanic and, not least, the artist in exposition."

Editorial Reviews

While the prolific Ackroyd (London, among many others), in this addition to his Brief Lives series, doesn't provide new insights into one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, he does present a well-written distillation of the life and accomplishments of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Newton's scientific achievements are legend, from the creation of calculus to the formulation of the theory of gravity. Ackroyd asserts that the devout Newton, acting largely alone, institutionalized modern scientific method by demanding data and experimentation rather than supernatural explanations based in belief. Even though Newton studied alchemy, it was always within the construct of science, says Ackroyd. The biographer presents the other side of Newton as well: his quirky personality, the insecurity that made it difficult for him to tolerate any criticism and kept him from publishing many of his ideas for extended periods. And he shows how Newton, a loner as a young man, left the isolation of Cambridge University for London and the public sphere as master of the mint and president of the prestigious Royal Society. The vindictive Newton held extended grudges for slights, real or imagined, and Ackroyd summarizes the decades-long disputes with Robert Hooke and Royal Astronomer John Flamsteed. In short, Ackroyd does a commendable job in this introduction to a very complex genius. Illus. (Apr. 15)
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Author Information

Bio of Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd is a bestselling writer of both fiction and nonfiction. His most recent books include the biographies Dickens, Blake, and Thomas More and the novels The Trial of Elizabeth Cree, Milton in America, and The Plato Papers. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award (jointly), the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and The Guardian fiction prize. He lives in London

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Additional Info

Imprint

Nan A. Talese

Filesize

1.37 MB

Number of Pages

192

eBook ISBN

9780385525572