Increase Productivty

“A BOOK NOBODY UNDERSTANDS” (3)

In good weather Newton was occasionally seen taking a stroll in his garden. Picking up a stick, he drew figures on the graveled walks, which the other Fellows sidestepped for fear of ruining a work of genius—or folly. According to Humphrey, “When he has some Times taken a turn or two he has made a sudden stand, turn’d himself about, run up the Stairs like another Archimedes, and with a eureka fallen to write on his Desk standing, without giving himself the Leisure to draw a chair to sit down on.” So absorbed was Newton that he lost track of time and place. The days and dates on many of the papers recording his experiments do not match those of the calendar.

As he stepped down from his coach on reaching Cambridge, Halley hardly knew what to expect. He had exchanged no letters with Newton and had met him only once before, in London. Furthermore, Hooke’s name was bound to come up. Despite their mutual pledge not to kindle any more coal, Newton and Hooke were still feuding over scientific matters both great and small.

To Halley’s surprise, and great relief, Newton was flattered by his visit. They talked of many things before the astronomer revealed his reason for seeking Newton out. What kind of curve, Halley finally asked, “would be described by the planets supposing the force of attraction towards the sun to be reciprocal to the square of their distance from it?”

Without hesitation, Newton responded that it would be an ellipse! Taken aback, Halley asked him how he knew it.
“I have calculated it,” Newton replied.

When Halley asked to see the calculations, Newton began rummaging through his many stacks of papers while his excited visitor held his breath. As luck would have it, he was unable to find the critical documents, forcing Halley to depart without the written proof he required. However, all was not lost. Before they parted company, Newton promised to redo his calculations and send them on to Halley by the London post.

Taken From : Isaac Newton