Schettino 2017 Substantia
From Bioblast
| Schettino V (2017) Isaac Newton and alchemy. Substantia 1:69-76. |
Schettino V (2017) Substantia
Abstract: Isaac Newton dedicated a good part of his activity to alchemical experiments. This article tries to discuss the motivations that drove Newton to spend so much of his time in the laboratory: the search for a unitary vision of the forces acting in the macrocosm and in the microcosm, the belief on a hidden prisca sapientia in the occult philosophy to be rediscovered with a scientific approach and the dispute with materialistic philosophy.
• Bioblast editor: Gnaiger E
Attraction, affinity, force
* Affinity * Force
- Figure: The cyclic molecular structure of benzene and the ouroboros eating its own tail. Image credit: Haltopub / CC BY-SA.
- In a famous conference Kekulé, after recalling the metaphor of sitting on the shoulders of giants, concluded exalting the dream and the imagination for the progress of science:
- Let’s learn to dream, gentlemen, then perhaps we shall find
- the truth
- And to those who don’t think
- The truth will be given
- They’ll have it without effort
- But let us beware of publishing our dreams till they have
- been tested by the waking understanding.
* Oroboros symbol
