eugene+wk+4

The term alchemy nowadays conjures up the image of a mad scientist. In an everyday context, alchemy is the idea that it is possible to change other metals into gold. This obviously is a ridiculous suggestion by today’s knowledgeable standards. However, in Isaac Newton’s time, I believe alchemy were perfectly reasonable for the period. Looking back, they receive a bad reputation only because we know what we know now.

It seems to me that alchemist were fairly intelligent scientist of their day. They were the experimenters and the innovators trying to create new materials or finding new means to create old materials. Remember, this is before Dalton’s theory of the atom and before any sort of chemistry. This means that there wasn’t a clear understanding of chemical reactions, solubility rules, and how electrons are exchanged. So basically, the alchemist were almost randomly experimenting with different chemicals and discovering chemical properties through trial and error. In this sense, I see the alchemist as pioneers for understanding the properties of fluids and minerals. And in that context, if you could create a completely new material from 2 or 3 reactants that were nothing alike, who’s to say that gold isn’t a possible result? Although a crude method of understanding chemical properties, it sparked the curiosity and laid the foundation for a more formal and structured study of chemistry.

So was Isaac Newton that crazy to be a practicing alchemist? Accepting our previous understanding of alchemy, it would seem normal for the enthusiast of that period to engage in alchemical experimentation. Newton of course could not stay away from a growing field of “science”. Being motivated to explain all things in the mechanical world, it would make sense to venture outside of “physics” and mathematics to look for inspiration. Newtown experimented with alchemy, tooled around with the metals, and conjectured a few explanations. In the end, I believe he understood alchemy wasn’t an honest way of learning about science. His manuscripts after all “had been labeled ‘not fit to be printed’ upon Newton's death in 1727”. Isaac Newton may be crazy but it certainly wasn’t for his work with alchemy. To fully understand the dynamics and drawbacks of this strange idea, he was obligated to immerse himself into that world in order to critically assess it.