Today is Sir Isaac Newton's birth anniversary. On the very special occasion here is a piece of writing by me.

Sir Isaac Newton

is considered not only the Father of Modern Physics but also one of the greatest polymaths in the history of humankind. Hardly anyone, I believe, has made as many contributions to the development of science, physics in particular, and mathematics, as much as Newton has. The eccentric genius is widely remembered for his contributions to the laws of motion, the law of universal gravitation, optics, calculus, and many more. But this is not the most amazing part. The most mind-bending part of Newton’s life is that he invented calculus to develop a mathematics for describing his theories in Physics and he did so by the age of 23. But the real question is: was he a born genius? Did he have all those special abilities by birth? Let’s try and analyze Newton’s study habits in this short story.

Newton’s life wasn’t as fun-filled and happy as some of us might think. He has faced loads of difficult times and gone through several tragedies and losses. Newton was abandoned by his parents who included his mother and his step-father whom she married when he was just three. His real father had died a few months before he was born. Ever since then till the age of 11, he lived with his grandmother. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that he really had a difficult childhood and this could be one of the reasons why he mostly wanted to isolate himself and wasn’t much good at socializing with people.

That was one of the earliest traumas he had to go through which later played a key role in creating his aloof personality. When Newton’s mother got back to the family, she made him quit school and made him do the farm chores. He would spend a significant amount of time doing work at the farm which he didn’t like much. Later, when his friends and relatives convinced his mother, she agreed to send him back for his studies.

He got admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in the year 1661. In the year 1664, he got a scholarship to study for four more years to finish his MA but in the same year, England was hit by Bubonic plague due to which the University was closed for two consecutive years. Due to this reason, Newton had to go back to his home in Woolshorpe. These two years turned out to be the most productive and mind-wrenchingly stressful years for Newton. During these two years, he spent most of his days, most of his hours, studying in a room with nothing but lighting candles, loads of books, and notes around. It is reportedly said that he used to get so engrossed in his works that he would forget and skip his meals. During this period, Newton used to spend 16–18 hours a day working and studying in his room totally undistracted. He came up with the theory of gravitation, his significant works in optics, and he also invented calculus during these bubonic plague times at his home. According to biographer Gale Christianson, Newton’s working habits were pathologically addictive and for him, there was no end to the day. He would just keep going on and on and on until he felt exhausted to death.

In the 1680s, when Newton was rigorously working to publish his lifelong works in his book Principia Mathematica, as mentioned by one of Newton’s employees, he would often go to sleep at 2 or 3 in the morning. He barely attended any social events or participated in any recreational activities. The daily routine of Newton’s works is very well explained in this piece by John Ashbery.

Newton, as is documented, had an incredible ability to keep his mind focused on one work at a time. He wouldn’t think of anything else until he’d finished the work he was doing. In this PBS episode with Gail Christianson, he mentions that Newton worked 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. Newton had given up his personal life, he probably never had any intention of getting married or raising a family. He wanted to devote all his life to the works of science and the pursuit of mathematics and so he did. In today’s world, we are surrounded by too many distractions, and it is often hard to focus on things. To achieve something impressively massive, one requires an impressively massive dedication. There’s a very beautiful quote by Aristotle that fits so well in this case,

“there’s no great genius without the mixture of madness.”

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked this story don’t forget to follow me. I will be back soon with a new blog/article/story.