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Isaac Newton and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Isaac Newton was, without a doubt, among the most brilliant men who ever walked the earth. The story goes such. One day, Newton was sitting under an apple tree, and saw an apple fall to the ground. He then asked the question, “does the moon fall too? This profound question – and its answer- would set off a revolution in science and engineering that continues to this day. In doing so, Isaac Newton invented an entirely new form of mathematics called calculus. Not bad for a man in his 20s.
In his book “Principia Mathematica”, published in 1687, Isaac Newton presented his ideas to the world. The moon does fall. It just is moving sideways with a fast enough speed that it falls around the earth. In order to explain how this works, Newton proposed the following thought experiment. One could imagine a cannon. If a cannonball is fired at a certain speed, it will fly forward a certain distance before falling to the ground. If the cannonball is fired faster, it will go farther before falling. As the earth is round, Newton reasoned, there must be a speed at which the cannonball can be fired that it will fall around the curvature of the earth, thus remain in orbit indefinitely. This is the same way, he realized, that the moon stays in orbit of the earth and all the planets in orbit of the sun. He was able to calculate these speeds and orbits using his calculus- the mathematics of motion. One might think that that is a hearty career for a scientist, but Newton was a special man. He also contributed to mankind’s understanding of optics, and is largely responsible to working out the colors of the rainbow.
Despite his staggering achievements in the field of science, Isaac Newton devoted a significant portion of his time to pursuits that were decidedly non-scientific. He believed in the occult and spent much time contemplating the apocalypse. Other studies in psuedosciences included the fields of astrology and, most famously, alchemy. He was known to deeply study the bible and was religious. It is quite strange that a man with such a capacity to question his surroundings and study based on observation could be involved in such strange practices. That is the paradox that is Isaac Newton.
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mathematics
Like many kids, I disliked math while growing up. Not that I was bad at it, quite the contrary- I scored fairly high marks in class and scored very high in standardized testing. I merely found it boring and tedious. Manipulating numbers with no apparent reason – it seemed that mathematics was designed only as a method of torture. I believe that this is symptomatic of the general education on the subject. This need not be the case. It was only later in life that I fell in love – with calculus. And geometry. Even my former nemesis: algebra. Because these make up the beautiful language in which the universe, and therefore all existence, is written.
What once appeared to me to be only a myriad of seemingly random numbers and symbols, I now saw clearly. Hidden among the disarray was actually a simplistic beauty. These numbers and symbols were the heart and soul that beat in the fabric of space and time. This realization changed my life. I started to devour any information I could on advanced mathematics. In particular, I focused on calculus and geometry (especially the fascinating aspects of non-euclidean geometry), the mathematics that the greats, Newton, Leibnitz, Reimann and Einstein, used to interpret the cosmos. I learned that science and mathematics are actually one and the same- neither can exist but for the other.
Nature abounds in exquisite relationships and symmetries, from the subatomic level to the cosmos. Equations can have a beauty in their pure simplicity, yest uncanny ability to decode the secrets of nature. Einstein’s famous equation, E=MC^2, has only three variables (energy, mass, velocity of light), yet it changed the way we think about physics. That simple equation, known by every schoolchild, unlocked the mechanism that powers the stars -and the hydrogen bomb. The relationship between matter and energy that it posits is as revolutionary today as it was a century ago. Matter and energy are in actuality the same thing. One can be converted to the other at a ratio of the square of the speed of light. The entirety of 20th century physics would have been impossible without this simple, yet profound, equation.
The interwoven histories of science and mathematics abound with such equations and mathematical expressions. Pythagoras’ theorem, another basic formula relying only on three variables, has allowed all architecture ever on the planet earth by unveiling the mysteries of the triangle. Isaac Newton opened the doors to the industrial revolution and modern physics with his simple F=MA. The entirety of the modern world has its foundations in thought-provoking mathematics.
When mathematics is broken away from the mush of numbers and letters, and stripped down to its simplest form, it truly has the power to amaze and inspire. That’s how I learned to stop worrying and love mathematics.
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