Not content to create calculus and revolutionize mathematics, construct a theory of gravity and motion, and invent the reflecting telescope and create a theory of optics explaining the color spectrum, Sir Isaac Newton also calculated when the Apocalypse might occur.

Newton was a Christian who railed against “magical thinking” and Christian mysticism… he believed that the universe operated in a mechanical rather than magical manner - this belief was the foundation for his work in the sciences and natural philosophy. That didn’t stop him from analyzing the texts of the Bible - in particular the Book of Daniel.

The Book of Daniel is an old testament book which contains (among other things) a description of four apocalyptic visions:

• The vision of four great beasts representing four great kings or kingdoms, the fourth of which destroys the entire earth.
• The vision of a ram and a goat.
• The vision of seventy weeks.
• The vision of conflicts between the King of the North and the King of the South.

Newton’s documents regarding the Apocalypse were bought at auction by a Jewish scholar in 1936 and have only recently been shown to the public.

Newton believed that information was encoded numerically in the books of the Bible, and calculated that the earliest the world might end is 2060. Take that, Mayan apocalypse!

“It may end later,” he wrote, “but I see no reason for its ending sooner.”

Via: Papers show Isaac Newton’s religious side - CNN.com
[tags]isaac newton, apocalypse, book of daniel[/tags]

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