#henry oldenburg

[newtonian-tragedy]

A whole cast of Hooke's circle, drawn by gakuryokuup

[lindahall]

Henry Oldenburg – Scientist of the Day

Henry Oldenburg, a German/English diplomat turned professional correspondent, was born around 1618, in Bremen. 

read more...

[newtonian-tragedy]

Found a Spinoza biography for $5 in an antique shop

Featuring Oldenbooger and Huggies

Also the two orientations: Homosexuality and Hooke

[newtonian-tragedy]

Newton's Ultimate Hypocrisy

As I read through Rob Iliffe's Priest of Nature, I came upon something so shocking—and yet so casually mentioned by the author—that I'm honestly surprised that I've never seen it brought up in any other source until now. But as Iliffe cites H. W. Turnbull's Correspondence of Isaac Newton (vol. 1-2), this is by no means no information.

Not only am I left fathoming the true depth of the abyss of depravity when it came to destroying the reputations of his rivals, but how the hell did he ever get away with this?

It all began during the Principia arc when Hooke—recognizing his own ideas and the part they played in Newton's universal law of gravitation—urged Newton to credit him for the hints that he had provided in their private correspondence as well as from Micrographia two decades prior.

So Newton, in his infinite wisdom, wrote a letter to Halley claiming that not only had he already been aware of the inverse square law before Hooke began writing letters to him, but that Hooke was the one who had gotten the idea from him instead.

According to Newton, the evidence of his priority was in a letter he had written to Huygens (via Oldenburg) dated 23 June, 1673. The main topic of the letter was on light and color, but the subject of planetary motion was also brought up.

And so, Newton claimed, when Hooke succeeded Oldenburg as secretary of the Royal Society, he found this letter among the collection of papers, and lifted the idea from that. And then, despite being too mathematically illiterate to comprehend the theory, Hooke attempted to resell this idea to its original author, Newton himself.

Except there's one little problem with this story: The copy of Newton's letter to Oldenburg does not match the copy that Oldenburg had sent to Huygens when it was translated into French.

In fact, the entire opening paragraph that contains the text about gravitation was omitted from Oldenburg's translation:

Remarkable, indeed! Now, why would old Grubendol just happen to leave out not only an entire paragraph of Newton's writing, but information on a topic that had been the source of hot debate for centuries? 🤔

The answer, of course, is that he wouldn't. For all the problems that Oldenburg had caused Hooke as a "trafficker of information", that is precisely why I do not believe for a second that he would deprive Huygens of all people—who was no enemy of Newton besides— of any juicy tidbits.

Not to mention that the opening paragraph was obviously just shoehorned in there, like some kind of an afterthought.

Read that again.

Newton committed forgery.

A man who spent years locked away in his room, holding imaginary mock trials of long-dead religious figures with himself appointed as the jury, judge, and executioner...

A man who was hired by the Mint to hunt down counterfeiters and forgers and had them tortured and hanged...

A man who was so threatened by fellow philosophers whom he considered his intellectual inferiors that he resorted to lying and cheating instead of allowing his god-given genius and achievements to speak for themselves, like an emotionally secure and honest man would have.

I won't say that I'll never forgive him, but I have to say that the fury over this injustice and the disgust that he would abandon his own morals to stoop this low runs pretty damn deep.

[newtonian-tragedy]

Not as Long as You're Living Under My Roof

Hooke: And what's your name, son?

Harry: Henry Hunt, sir.

Hooke: [Oldenburg ptsd flashbacks]

Harry: Are you all right, Mr. Hooke?

Hooke: Quite so. And welcome aboard, Harry!

Harry: Erm, Henry, sir.

Hooke: What?! Where!?

Harry: My name is Henry, remember?

Hooke: Of course it is, Harry. Now, let me show you to your room.

[newtonian-tragedy]

whoopsies

[newtonian-tragedy]

"Thank you for attending my Ted Talk Cutler Lecture"

[newtonian-tragedy]

Thinking about how Grubendol's cause of death being malaria heavily implies he was killed by a mosquito, of all things.