Newton vs. Hooke
From: navako
Message: 1043
Date: 2005-01-28
This is purely tangental, but the issue of Newton's controversy has come up
several times now: I believe the dispute that Bhante Pandita was thinking of
was between Newton and Hooke (the latter was an Englishman, who remains
famous for "Hooke's Theorem"). Newton bitterly resented Hooke's
(substantiated) claim to having proposed an equation related to gravitation
prior to Newton's proof/discovery thereof. In retaliation, Newton did
everything he could to erase Hooke from the annals of history following
Hooke's death; he also had him kicked out of some Royal Society or another
during his life.
Newton was a rather unbalanced character.
Incidentally, there's a statue of Newton in the room in which I am now
sitting (I didn't decorate this apartment); he is holding a scroll reading
"Attraction Universelle \ Calcule Differentiel" --which is, by coincidence,
very much related to this historical anecdote.
E.M.
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