I'll only be 92!
Posted on 06/17/2007 7:26:12 PM PDT by voletti
JERUSALEM: Renowned British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics and astronomy, predicted the world would end in 2060. He made the prediction in a 1704 letter that went on show in Jerusalem on Sunday.
A famed rationalist, who secured a royal exemption from the ordination in the Church of England that was normally expected of academics of his day so he would not have to follow its teachings, Newton nonetheless based his prediction on a Biblical text.
Working from verses in the Book of Daniel, the elaborator of the classical laws of gravity, motion and optics argued that the world would end 1,260 years after the foundation of the Holy Roman empire in western Europe in 800 AD.
The letter, on show at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University as part of an exhibition called “Newton’s Secrets”, is part of an array of papers of the British scientist bequeathed to the institution by a wealthy collector of scientific manuscripts.
The university said it was the first time the letter had been put on public show since 1969. Newton’s late 17th century work at Cambridge University was the foundation stone of modern science until the discovery of relativity and quantum mechanics in the last century.
But it has long been known that the ground-breaking physicist from Grantham, England, also took a keen interest in superstitions of his day that have long since fallen foul of modern science. Newton spent four years in the 1670s preparing a work on alchemy, the notion that base metals can be turned into gold.
We’ll just have to see what God has to say about that.
A year can make a big difference if trying to make reservations.
yup and we will have a live thread going right here
btw Happy fathers day LL
Century mark for me....life is fatal if you live long enough.
I'll only be 92!
If Hillary is elected it will.
Some birthday present huh?
I will be pretty near to you in age. Maybe we can enjoy a champange together.
LOL...you’re probably right!
The Mayans said 2012.
Yeah, you would think it would atleast wait for you to get to 100.
It’s real hard to explain so I leave it up to my fellow Freepers to fill in the blanks, so here goes.... How do you explain to somebody that at least 300 years ago somebody needed a way to state when a planetary body would cross the orbit of another planetary body, I’m just blown away that somebody (Sir Isaac) would just invent another form of mathematics (the Calculus) to explain all that. Feel Free to expound. B.S.
Thank you, al baby.
Um, do you know something I don't?
Piece o' cake ....
Build a lab ... look like you're doing something ... and buy lots of Kruegerands.
melt 'em down and voila !
GOLD !
“I thought you was a toad!”
And I’ll have made the last payment on my student loan, too!
But dad
You obviously don't understand the gravity of the situation. This is Newton we're talking about. </humor>
What are we supposed to expound on? Is it calculus that we’re supposed to expound on? Is it the prediction about the end of the world? I’m not sure I’m getting what you’re saying...
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