Newton Dies: Gravity's Author Passes at 84

Isaac Newton died on March 20, 1727, at age eighty-four, in his sleep at his London residence, having outlived most of his rivals and all of his grudges. He was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey, an honor previously reserved for royalty and national heroes, and six noblemen served as pallbearers. Voltaire, who attended, remarked that England honored a mathematician as other nations honored a king. Newton had published the Principia Mathematica in 1687, arguably the most important scientific work ever written, laying out the laws of motion and universal gravitation that explained everything from falling apples to planetary orbits in a single mathematical framework. He demonstrated that the same force that pulled objects to the ground held the moon in orbit around the Earth and the Earth in orbit around the sun. No one had ever unified so many natural phenomena under so few principles. His contributions extended far beyond gravity. Newton developed calculus simultaneously with Leibniz, though the priority dispute consumed years of both men's lives and poisoned scientific relationships across Europe. His work on optics demonstrated that white light was composed of a spectrum of colors, overturning centuries of assumption. He built the first practical reflecting telescope, designed the first successful method for computing the orbits of comets, and served as Warden and then Master of the Royal Mint, where he pursued counterfeiters with the same intensity he applied to physics. Newton's personality was as remarkable as his intellect. He was secretive, vindictive, and capable of sustaining feuds for decades. His dispute with Robert Hooke over the theory of light and his battle with Leibniz over calculus were conducted with a viciousness that damaged both opponents. Newton spent years working on alchemy and biblical chronology, pursuits that occupied as much of his time as physics but produced nothing of lasting value. He never married, had few close relationships, and spent his final years as the most revered intellectual figure in Europe. Newton proved that the universe operated by laws that human reason could discover, and that discovery changed everything.