Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician, one of the most influential scientists in history, was also a successful alchemist and even owes part of his scientific heritage to this mysterious craft.
Newton's manuscript on alchemy was recently discovered - the Philadelphia-based Chemical Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization, acquired the 17th century document.
The manuscript describes Newton's attempts to find the Philosopher's Stone, a mystical substance that can turn common elements like lead into precious ones, such as gold.
“Combine one piece of a fire dragon, several Diana's doves, and at least seven eagles of mercury,” part of the recipe is provided on the non-profit organization's website.
“Throughout his life, Newton wrote over a million words about alchemy, hoping to use ancient knowledge to better explain the nature of matter and, perhaps, become rich,” says the National Geographic article.
"But in academia, it has long been avoided mentioning it, since alchemy is usually rejected as a mystical pseudoscience based on bizarre and unauthorized processes."
This is why Newton's alchemical works are scattered across various private collections. The University of Cambridge, Newton's alma mater, refused to archive his alchemical recipes in 1888, and in 1936 they were auctioned for an amount equal to 9,000 British pounds (approximately $ 618,000).
Newton's great contribution to optics, in particular, the assertion that white light is a mixture of light of different colors, can be based on the scientist's knowledge of alchemy, according to the historian of science William Newman of Indiana University in the USA.
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“Alchemists were the first to understand that compounds can be broken down into their component parts and then reunited. Newton then applied this to white light, which he decomposed into its component colors, and then reunited, Newman told National Geographic. "Newton learned it from alchemy."
