Historical Notes: A Momentary Lapse of Concentration by the Genius?

摘要

Sit Isaac Newton's genius needs no explanation. What the world would be like without his contributions to mathematics, mechanics and science in general is difficult to comprehend. The reverence with which Isaac Newton is held in scientific circles in the world is legendary.1 A recent volume by Feingold [1] (see also [2]) presents an authoritative account of the events that serve as the backdrop for Newton's discoveries and his many conflicts, disagreements and public disputes with scientists of the day including Robert Hooke and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz. The frontispiece for this volume contains a 'Newton Doodle', typical of a scientist of that period, that is indicative of Newton's ability to multi-task. The exact explanations for the sketches could be an interesting exercise by itself. Our attention, however, is drawn to an arithmetical calculation that appears on the upper right-hand corner of the frontispiece (Figure 1).