Isaac Newton (1642-1727)




Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
—Alexander Pope, "Epigram on Sir Isaac Newton"

It did not last: the Devil howling "Ho!
Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo.
—J. C. Squire (1884-1958), "Answer to Pope's
Epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton"


When Newton saw an apple fall, he found...
A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round
In a most natural whirl, call "gravitation";
And thus is the sole mortal who could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall or with an apple.
—Byron, "Don Juan", X.i.


A calculus fit to compute on,
White light, and a head to drop fruit on,
A mind to absorb it,
And soar into orbit—
That's all that it takes to be Newton.
—Gina Berkeley

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