Perhaps An Unfair Comparison

by Elaine Carlson

"In the winter of 1665-66 Trinity College in Cambridge closed its doors owing to the plague. [Isaac] Newton returned to his home in the English countryside. " (David Berlinski, A Tour of the Calculus Pantheon Books 1997 New York pg 5).

But Newton did not need a college campus to continue his learning (maybe thinking would be a better word). Berlinski relates how "In the year that followed" that young scientist (he was twenty-three at the time) "invented the calculus, discovered the universal law of gravitation (and so created contemporary dynamics), and developed a theory of color." Since then that year is referred to as the annus mirabilis or year of miracles.

Reading this account of Newton's activity after Cambridge "closed its doors" makes me a little defensive about our society. I doubt if any of our modern scientists (or even groups of scientists) could get as much done in the same amount of time.

But I am also sure that Newton's dedication to scientific pursuit is not unique (or even unusual). I guess that now after retreating to their homes many scientists will keep busy with their work while the Corona Virus 19 Pandemic is a threat. I doubt they will close down their brains or curiosity just because there is health crisis. And I hope an author (or authors) will write a book (or books) on that scientific work.

Of course we can expect a lot of interest focused on the studies of the virus and its direct and indirect effects (for instance the way rats have responded to the dearth of human activity in city centers) but I hope some books will cover other scientific work. After all Newton spent his time figuring out planetary movement and not what was causing the plague.

I think we have to consider what he was working with then --- he read books and used pens, rulers, protractors and compasses to record in notebooks. And maybe he used a slide-rule. We can only guess what he could have done if he had had a telephone and a computer. For the record I want to to stipulate that I don't consider the abacus a computer.

Current scientists don't just have the advantage of better technology. One of Newton most famous quotes is, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.'' Those Giants are earlier scientists – he didn't have to start at the beginning. Current scientists can stand on the backs of Newton and the many other scientists who have been toiling in the 355 years since the Black Plague.

The world has a lot more scientists now and with the superior fire-power of their tools and their bigger store of accumulated knowledge they have a definite advantage over Newton. Wouldn't it be great if in the future this year is referred to as annus mirabilis secondo or second year of miracles because of the combined total of the conclusions and discoveries of all of those scientists?