New Play Spotlights Darker Aspects of Newton's Career

December 9, 2009

The poet Alexander Pope once wrote, "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night:/ God said, Let Newton be! and all was light."

Now, in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the University of Cambridge, James Baxter has written a play about Isaac Newton, titled "Let Newton Be." Retired Lucasian Professor of Mathematics Stephen Hawkins introduced the play when it premiered at Trinity College, Newton's alma mater. Graham Lawton of The New Scientist attended the premiere.

Constructed entirely from the writings of Newton and his contemporaries, the play depicts Newton in three stages of his life: as the creative young Isaac; as the first Lucasian Professor of Mathematics; and as the less than admirable Sir. Isaac. The play also shows a side of the man that is less familiar, his rejection of the Holy Trinity. Lawton wrote, "On this matter alone, Newton wrote hundreds of thousands of words of torturous theological prose - more than he ever wrote about natural philosophy."  A heretical belief that would have cost him his position and even his life, Lawton describes Newton's denial as "an intellectual project that obsessed him more than any other."

"The impression the play leaves is like the afterimage on Newton's retina when he stared at the sun to better understand light: uncomfortable, but hard to shake," Lawton wrote. The play is scheduled to tour Britain in 2010.

Source: The New Scientist, November 9, 2009.