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Exactly right- a bizarre but true story

Posted by Bambi B (A) on August 29, 2009 at 12:09:06

In Reply to: The Optical Experiment in that painting seems to be the one in which Newton purposely stuck... posted by orejones on August 29, 2009 at 09:36:43:

PAINTING: "A visiting Bishop"

orejones,

Yes, the painting, "Optical experiment with "g" is (fairly closely) based on the drawing of his arm and hand Newton made in his notes while doing his optical experiments at Cambridge in the early 1660's. This was part of the extensive research for his "Opticks"- there was a lot of working with prisms as well.

Newton found that by pressing on the eyeball, he could stimulate colours- and he was so enthusiastic about this effect he actually poked a stick hehind his eyeball. The stick in Newton's drawing is labelled "g". In Westfall's excellent biography of Newton, Never at Rest he includes this drawing and muses that it seems impossible Newton wasn't blinded by these experiments. I used this episode in Newton's life to try and theatrically depict an aspect of the detached relation to mind to body image. I only expanded the drawing to include Newton's body and the room and a faux picture frame.

You must be a scholar to have recognised this scene- are you especially interested in the history of science and/or technology/social? In the late 90's I did a series of 35 paintings that were intended to illustrate a book on Natural Philosophy. As some may know, but which is counter-intuitive to popular knowledge, Newton was an enthusiastic Alchemist for far longer than he was a mathematician and physicist. My theory is that he, like Goethe later on, found Natural Philosophy more easily inclusive of what seemed as miracles (scalar and super-complex systems) than strict Science and Mathematics could then explain.

Has there ever been a good movie or docu-dramaticated-infotainment series on Newton?

SCENE: Outdoors in an orchard. The young Isaac Newton is lying against a tree, carefully studying the centrefold of the latest issue of Playpuritan magazine

Damon as Newton:

"Oy, An appel just gone off and rapped me noggin! Ow! Now what made 'er do that?"

Cheers,

Bambi B

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Kimber Kable

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