﻿ISAAC 
  NEWTON 
  

  

  By 
  Albert 
  Einstein 
  

  

  The 
  two-hundredth 
  anniversary 
  of 
  the 
  death 
  of 
  Newton 
  falls 
  at 
  

   this 
  time. 
  One's 
  thoughts 
  can 
  not 
  but 
  turn 
  to 
  this 
  shining 
  spirit, 
  

   who 
  pointed 
  out, 
  as 
  none 
  before 
  or 
  after 
  him 
  did, 
  the 
  path 
  of 
  

   Western 
  thought 
  and 
  research 
  and 
  practical 
  construction. 
  He 
  was 
  

   not 
  only 
  an 
  inventor 
  of 
  genius 
  in 
  respect 
  of 
  particular 
  guiding 
  

   methods; 
  he 
  also 
  showed 
  a 
  unique 
  mastery 
  of 
  the 
  empirical 
  material 
  

   known 
  in 
  his 
  time, 
  and 
  he 
  was 
  marvelously 
  inventive 
  in 
  special 
  

   mathematical 
  and 
  physical 
  demonstrations. 
  For 
  all 
  these 
  reasons 
  he 
  

   deserves 
  our 
  deep 
  veneration. 
  He 
  is, 
  however, 
  a 
  yet 
  more 
  significant 
  

   figure 
  than 
  his 
  own 
  mastery 
  makes 
  him, 
  since 
  he 
  was 
  placed 
  by 
  fate 
  

   at 
  a 
  turning 
  point 
  in 
  the 
  world's 
  intellectual 
  development. 
  This 
  

   is 
  brought 
  home 
  vividly 
  to 
  us 
  when 
  we 
  recall 
  that 
  before 
  Newton 
  

   there 
  was 
  no 
  comprehensive 
  system 
  of 
  physical 
  causality 
  which 
  could 
  

   in 
  any 
  way 
  render 
  the 
  deeper 
  characters 
  of 
  the 
  world 
  of 
  concrete 
  

   experience. 
  

  

  The 
  great 
  materialists 
  of 
  ancient 
  Greek 
  civilization 
  had 
  indeed 
  

   postulated 
  the 
  reference 
  of 
  all 
  material 
  phenomena 
  to 
  a 
  process 
  of 
  

   atomic 
  movements 
  controlled 
  by 
  rigid 
  laws, 
  without 
  appealing 
  to 
  

   the 
  will 
  of 
  living 
  creatures 
  as 
  an 
  independent 
  cause. 
  Descartes, 
  in 
  

   his 
  own 
  fashion, 
  had 
  revived 
  this 
  ultimate 
  conception. 
  But 
  it 
  

   remained 
  a 
  bold 
  postulate, 
  the 
  problematic 
  ideal 
  of 
  a 
  school 
  of 
  

   philosophy. 
  In 
  the 
  way 
  of 
  actual 
  justification 
  of 
  our 
  confidence 
  in 
  

   the 
  existence 
  of 
  an 
  entirely 
  physical 
  causality, 
  virtually 
  nothing 
  

   had 
  been 
  achieved 
  before 
  Newton. 
  

  

  NEWTON'S 
  AIM 
  

  

  Newton's 
  aim 
  was 
  to 
  find 
  an 
  answer 
  to 
  the 
  question 
  : 
  Does 
  there 
  

   exist 
  a 
  simple 
  rule 
  by 
  which 
  the 
  motion 
  of 
  the 
  heavenly 
  bodies 
  of 
  

   our 
  planetary 
  system 
  can 
  be 
  completely 
  calculated, 
  if 
  the 
  state 
  of 
  

   motion 
  of 
  all 
  these 
  bodies 
  at 
  a 
  single 
  moment 
  is 
  known? 
  Kepler's 
  

   empirical 
  laws 
  of 
  the 
  motion 
  of 
  the 
  planets, 
  based 
  on 
  Tycho 
  Brahe's 
  

   observations, 
  were 
  already 
  enunciated, 
  and 
  demanded 
  an 
  interpreta- 
  

  

  1 
  Reprinted 
  by 
  permission 
  from 
  the 
  Manchester 
  Guardian 
  of 
  March 
  19, 
  1927. 
  (Copyright 
  

   in 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  of 
  America.) 
  

  

  201 
  

  

  