A Brief History of Time: Einstein–Newton

Sickened by what he saw as the waste of human lives, he became involved in antiwar demonstrations.

His advocacy of civil disobedience and public encouragement of people to refuse conscription did little to endear him to his colleagues.

Then, following the war, he directed his efforts toward reconciliation and improving international relations.

In the face of the Nazi threat, Einstein renounced pacifism, and eventually, fearing that German scientists would build a nuclear bomb, proposed that the United States should develop its own.

But even before the first atomic bomb had been detonated, he was publicly warning of the dangers of nuclear war and proposing international control of nuclear weaponry.

Galileo, worried by this, traveled to Rome to speak to the ecclesiastical authorities.

He argued that the Bible was not intended to tell us anything about scientific theories, and that it was usual to assume that, where the Bible conflicted with common sense, it was being allegorical.

He failed, but he did manage to get permission to write a book discussing both Aristotelian and Copernican theories, on two conditions: he would not take sides and would come to the conclusion that man could in any case not determine how the world worked because God could bring about the same effects in ways unimagined by man, who could not place restrictions on God’s omnipotence.

The Pope argued that although the book had the official blessing of the censors, Galileo had nevertheless contravened the 1616 decree.

He brought Galileo before the Inquisition, who sentenced him to house arrest for life and commanded him to publicly renounce Copernicanism.

Following publication of Principia Mathematica—surely the most influential book ever written in physics—Newton had risen rapidly into public prominence.

Although we now know that Newton discovered calculus years before Leibniz, he published his work much later. A major row ensued over who had been first, with scientists vigorously defending both contenders.

Newton then wrote the committee’s report himself and had the Royal Society publish it, officially accusing Leibniz of plagiarism.

He had been active in anti-Catholic politics at Cambridge, and later in Parliament, and was rewarded eventually with the lucrative post of Warden of the Royal Mint.

Here he used his talents for deviousness and vitriol in a more socially acceptable way, successfully conducting a major campaign against counterfeiting, even sending several men to their death on the gallows.