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In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and his Times
A biography of Newton probes the scientist's reclusive personality, recreates the turbulent intellectual atmosphere of seventeenth-century Europe, and lucidly describes Newton's epoch-making discoveries in physics, optics, and astronomy
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1984
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193 people want to read
About the author
Gale E. Christianson
16 books12 followersGale E. Christianson is retired from Indiana State University, where he served as Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Huntington Library Fellow, and the recipient of numerous other grants and awards. Christianson lives in Terre Haute, where he continues to research and write.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 5, 2009
I actually read this 15 years ago as part of my masters' program. It is a biography of Sir Isaac Newton and the beginnings of the Age of Enlightenment. Truly fascinating read.
November 14, 2025
He was born on Christmas day but was not expected to live more than a few months. His illiterate father had died shortly before he was born. His mother remarried and gave the responsibility of raising him to someone else. In an age when wealth and family influence determined success, the origins of Isaac Newton were rather humble. He expressed private feelings of hatred for his mother and her new husband. That is not to say that his mother cared nothing for him- she worked hard to provide for him financially, hoping he would stay at home and learn the rural family lifestyle. But it was not to be. His life would be one of scientific discoveries. He would also go on to serve as a member of the English Parliament, head of the royal Mint, and a president of the Royal Society.
No one "invented" science. The idea of testing ideas by trial and error had always existed, yet most people did not formulate or organize their discoveries. Some in the 17th century still viewed the philosophy of the ancients as supreme. If Aristotle said the sun revolved around the earth, they simply appealed to Aristotle's authority. Some agreed with Copernicus and Galileo and were looking for ways to validate new ideas as scientific fact. Isaac Newton was one of these men. He often referred to this concept as "experimental philosophy." Instead of just appealing to the intellectual authority of great men or to the consensus of the educated, he looked to explain the universe by scientific experiments.
Existing science said that light from the sun was white and that only impurities in transparent materials in the universe created the colors of the rainbow. Newton conducted experiments by shining light from the sun through prisms and proved that the light from the sun contains all the colors of the rainbow, and that by bending or refracting the light, a prism separates the light into the different colors. Other scientists like Robert Hooke would dispute this claim, but Hooke never really understood the prism experiments to begin with and Newton spent years debating and defending his ideas.
Existing science said that there was an "ether" in between heavenly bodies that exerted forces on the planets through Cartesian forces or vortices. Newton conducted planetary observations that invalidated this as merely a hypothesis. He explained the relationship of matter through universal gravitation. No one really knows if he first conceived the idea of gravity while sitting under an apple tree, but he often sat and contemplated philosophy in a garden that may have contained fruit trees. A Dutch philosopher named Huygens had discovered centrifugal force and Newton attributed this to the force that pushed the planets away from the sun. But what force attracted the planets to the sun? -Newton proposed that a 'centripetal force' pulled the planets toward the sun, and that gravity might just be that force. He also believed that gravity might explain all forces in the universe down to the attractions between the smallest particles. Yet he could never answer certain questions like "what caused gravity" and "how to precisely calculate the moon’s orbits." The earth was not the only celestial body that attracted moon- the other planets and the sun itself attracted the moon, making precise calculations of the lunar orbits difficult.
Newton marveled at how the forces of attraction and repulsion always worked perfectly together and attributed the organization of the universe to God's perfect design. Ironically, as Enlightenment philosophy became more popular, many would borrow his ideas and use them to postulate that there was no god. Was Isaac Newton a Christian? -That depends on if you view Anti-trinitarians as Christians. Some are heretics, while others simply may not understand the concept of the Trinity. While Newton spent his life studying the Bible and believed it to be without error, he believed that early church fathers and the Catholics had invented the concept of the Trinity, and that the views of Arius were correct. Since his status in an English society dominated by Trinitarians depended on orthodoxy, he kept his unorthodox views on the Trinity a secret.
As early as 1665, before a fire consumed much of London, Newton sought to mathematically calculate the principles of the universe in fluxions, or differential calculus. But since he did not publish his ideas until many years later, Gottfried Liebniz came up the concept himself, and there was a long intellectual battle between them in which Newton wasted away years of his life in needless disputes even after Leibniz was dead.
Newton had grown up in an English society still seething from the wounds of a civil war which saw the Catholic king Charles I beheaded. England was then ruled by Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, and then James II. When James II began oppressing Protestants, William of Orange sailed across the channel and became king, which was a boon for Protestants. Newton would temporarily serve as a member of the new Parliament.
Another of Newton's obsessions would waste away years of his life: alchemy. Men had long searched for ways to make gold from other metals, and some who did not understand this obsession referred to it as 'sorcery.' It might be more proper to say that this 'sorcery' was merely a misapplication of what we call "chemistry." Yet like every other alchemist of the time, he never found a way to make gold from other metals. But his experience with metals would have at least one useful outcome.
English currency had become devalued over the years as a result of coin clipping and counterfeiting. This created a currency crisis that required standardizing the minting process and removing bad coins from circulation. Newton was appointed to the position of head of the Mint and used his alchemy obsession for good... and evil. He helped revise the coining process to make all coins an exact weight and an exact size. He also ruthlessly pursued coin clippers and counterfeiters, even becoming an officer of the peace in certain districts. He used his own money to hunt down and capture coin criminals, using both honest and dishonest methods. He had a strong sense of justice, but believed that criminals could never be rehabilitated and helped to hang several of them. His lack of human compassion was one of his worst attributes.
Isaac Newton had been a recluse in his younger years who feared fame and tried to avoid dispute over his ideas. Yet by the end of his life, he was one of the most prominent and influential men in European society. When appointed President of the Royal Society, he became arrogant, authoritarian, and vengeful to anyone who still disagreed with his ideas, seeing to it that they were ousted from the Society. He never really forgave the men who challenged him, and the Christian principal of forgiveness seemed to be foreign to him. Yet he died believing that he was God's chosen vessel to bring scientific revolution into the world. His pioneering of light studies, calculus, and universal gravitation advanced the cause of science like no one else in history until Albert Einstein in the 20th century.
Where would the world be without Isaac Newton? We would still have science, but we might not have the same knowledge of it that we do today. Modern society has benefitted immensely from scientific advancement. Yet rather than relying on the scientific method as the authority in science, as Newton did, some in our day still embrace academic consensus and appeal to intellectual authority as some Europeans did before Newton's time. While Newton believed that God was the great architect behind the universe, some have rejected the idea of God altogether. Maybe we need to remember the legacy of Isaac Newton who, though often a poor example of a Christian, believed with all his heart that a perfect God created the universe and everything in it.
No one "invented" science. The idea of testing ideas by trial and error had always existed, yet most people did not formulate or organize their discoveries. Some in the 17th century still viewed the philosophy of the ancients as supreme. If Aristotle said the sun revolved around the earth, they simply appealed to Aristotle's authority. Some agreed with Copernicus and Galileo and were looking for ways to validate new ideas as scientific fact. Isaac Newton was one of these men. He often referred to this concept as "experimental philosophy." Instead of just appealing to the intellectual authority of great men or to the consensus of the educated, he looked to explain the universe by scientific experiments.
Existing science said that light from the sun was white and that only impurities in transparent materials in the universe created the colors of the rainbow. Newton conducted experiments by shining light from the sun through prisms and proved that the light from the sun contains all the colors of the rainbow, and that by bending or refracting the light, a prism separates the light into the different colors. Other scientists like Robert Hooke would dispute this claim, but Hooke never really understood the prism experiments to begin with and Newton spent years debating and defending his ideas.
Existing science said that there was an "ether" in between heavenly bodies that exerted forces on the planets through Cartesian forces or vortices. Newton conducted planetary observations that invalidated this as merely a hypothesis. He explained the relationship of matter through universal gravitation. No one really knows if he first conceived the idea of gravity while sitting under an apple tree, but he often sat and contemplated philosophy in a garden that may have contained fruit trees. A Dutch philosopher named Huygens had discovered centrifugal force and Newton attributed this to the force that pushed the planets away from the sun. But what force attracted the planets to the sun? -Newton proposed that a 'centripetal force' pulled the planets toward the sun, and that gravity might just be that force. He also believed that gravity might explain all forces in the universe down to the attractions between the smallest particles. Yet he could never answer certain questions like "what caused gravity" and "how to precisely calculate the moon’s orbits." The earth was not the only celestial body that attracted moon- the other planets and the sun itself attracted the moon, making precise calculations of the lunar orbits difficult.
Newton marveled at how the forces of attraction and repulsion always worked perfectly together and attributed the organization of the universe to God's perfect design. Ironically, as Enlightenment philosophy became more popular, many would borrow his ideas and use them to postulate that there was no god. Was Isaac Newton a Christian? -That depends on if you view Anti-trinitarians as Christians. Some are heretics, while others simply may not understand the concept of the Trinity. While Newton spent his life studying the Bible and believed it to be without error, he believed that early church fathers and the Catholics had invented the concept of the Trinity, and that the views of Arius were correct. Since his status in an English society dominated by Trinitarians depended on orthodoxy, he kept his unorthodox views on the Trinity a secret.
As early as 1665, before a fire consumed much of London, Newton sought to mathematically calculate the principles of the universe in fluxions, or differential calculus. But since he did not publish his ideas until many years later, Gottfried Liebniz came up the concept himself, and there was a long intellectual battle between them in which Newton wasted away years of his life in needless disputes even after Leibniz was dead.
Newton had grown up in an English society still seething from the wounds of a civil war which saw the Catholic king Charles I beheaded. England was then ruled by Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, and then James II. When James II began oppressing Protestants, William of Orange sailed across the channel and became king, which was a boon for Protestants. Newton would temporarily serve as a member of the new Parliament.
Another of Newton's obsessions would waste away years of his life: alchemy. Men had long searched for ways to make gold from other metals, and some who did not understand this obsession referred to it as 'sorcery.' It might be more proper to say that this 'sorcery' was merely a misapplication of what we call "chemistry." Yet like every other alchemist of the time, he never found a way to make gold from other metals. But his experience with metals would have at least one useful outcome.
English currency had become devalued over the years as a result of coin clipping and counterfeiting. This created a currency crisis that required standardizing the minting process and removing bad coins from circulation. Newton was appointed to the position of head of the Mint and used his alchemy obsession for good... and evil. He helped revise the coining process to make all coins an exact weight and an exact size. He also ruthlessly pursued coin clippers and counterfeiters, even becoming an officer of the peace in certain districts. He used his own money to hunt down and capture coin criminals, using both honest and dishonest methods. He had a strong sense of justice, but believed that criminals could never be rehabilitated and helped to hang several of them. His lack of human compassion was one of his worst attributes.
Isaac Newton had been a recluse in his younger years who feared fame and tried to avoid dispute over his ideas. Yet by the end of his life, he was one of the most prominent and influential men in European society. When appointed President of the Royal Society, he became arrogant, authoritarian, and vengeful to anyone who still disagreed with his ideas, seeing to it that they were ousted from the Society. He never really forgave the men who challenged him, and the Christian principal of forgiveness seemed to be foreign to him. Yet he died believing that he was God's chosen vessel to bring scientific revolution into the world. His pioneering of light studies, calculus, and universal gravitation advanced the cause of science like no one else in history until Albert Einstein in the 20th century.
Where would the world be without Isaac Newton? We would still have science, but we might not have the same knowledge of it that we do today. Modern society has benefitted immensely from scientific advancement. Yet rather than relying on the scientific method as the authority in science, as Newton did, some in our day still embrace academic consensus and appeal to intellectual authority as some Europeans did before Newton's time. While Newton believed that God was the great architect behind the universe, some have rejected the idea of God altogether. Maybe we need to remember the legacy of Isaac Newton who, though often a poor example of a Christian, believed with all his heart that a perfect God created the universe and everything in it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2010
This is a fascinating account of Sir Isaac Newton and the times in which he lived. This account is accessible to the non-mathmatical student of history amd is primarily concerned with the events that shaped the world's view of Newton's genius.
Throughout his life, Newton was embroiled in numerous controversies, many of his own making. Though each rift and rivalry is dealt with separately, it must be remembered that Newton dealt with each almost at the same time and dispatched each with the cunning of genius.
Newton cannot be viewed outside of the times that produced him and it now unimaginalbe to us the magnitude of his discoveries. What we now learn in primary school, even though we may not understand the mechanics wis first thought, or revealed to Newton. A great read, though heavy with repetition as the author presents each controversy.
"A secret art my soul requires to try,
If prayers can give me, what the wars deny.
Three crowns distinguish'd here in order do
Present their objects to my knowing view.
Earth's crown, thus at my feet, I can disdain,
Which heavy is, and, at the best, but vain.
But now a crown of thorns I gladly greet,
Sharp is the crown, but not so sharp as sweet.
The crown of glory that I yonder see
Is full of bliss and eternity."
Eikon Basilike
Early biographers attributed the above the Sir Isaac. Although he was not the author, it provides a glimpse of his world view as a child, which did not change throughout his eighty years.
Throughout his life, Newton was embroiled in numerous controversies, many of his own making. Though each rift and rivalry is dealt with separately, it must be remembered that Newton dealt with each almost at the same time and dispatched each with the cunning of genius.
Newton cannot be viewed outside of the times that produced him and it now unimaginalbe to us the magnitude of his discoveries. What we now learn in primary school, even though we may not understand the mechanics wis first thought, or revealed to Newton. A great read, though heavy with repetition as the author presents each controversy.
"A secret art my soul requires to try,
If prayers can give me, what the wars deny.
Three crowns distinguish'd here in order do
Present their objects to my knowing view.
Earth's crown, thus at my feet, I can disdain,
Which heavy is, and, at the best, but vain.
But now a crown of thorns I gladly greet,
Sharp is the crown, but not so sharp as sweet.
The crown of glory that I yonder see
Is full of bliss and eternity."
Eikon Basilike
Early biographers attributed the above the Sir Isaac. Although he was not the author, it provides a glimpse of his world view as a child, which did not change throughout his eighty years.
February 1, 2021
Enjoyed learning about the life of Newton, but this is not a very good biography. Strange treatment, at times going on for many pages about the minuta of various disputes, at other times introducing major accomplishments or life events almost in passing with very little explanation of the context or significance of these events. You don't feel like you get to know who Newton is. Occasionally some amateur psychologizing is attempted and these are the weakest parts of the book. But some interesting tidbits - didn't know how much about his dabbling into biblical studies or heretical Arian theology, so that's a take away. It's a life that's worthy of a good book, and I'd love to know if there's one out there because this isn't it.
September 16, 2024
Short of managing the Principia, I've long meant to read a biography of Newton, he being a major influence on my favorite philosopher, Kant. This substantial treatment has done the job, detailing his theory of universal gravitation, his invention of the calculus and his optics while exploring his consuming interests in theology and alchemy as well as his later career as head of the British mint.
Sadly, however, Christianson is a rather dry writer, detailing the facts well enough (such as Newton's primacy over Leibnitz) but not providing much in terms of the broader context of late seventeenth, early eighteen century Britain. At least it wasn't enough for me and the read, as a whole, was often a drudgery.
Sadly, however, Christianson is a rather dry writer, detailing the facts well enough (such as Newton's primacy over Leibnitz) but not providing much in terms of the broader context of late seventeenth, early eighteen century Britain. At least it wasn't enough for me and the read, as a whole, was often a drudgery.
April 27, 2020
The title is very exact. This biography goes beyond Sir Isaac Newton.
This work covers Sir Isaac's work in Opticks, Gravity, Mathematics, Astronomy and his feud over Calculus. Mr. Christianson’s work allows you to discover, through the words of Sir Isaac and his contemporaries, Isaac Newton’s personality, his quirks, intellect and successes. Discover Sir Isaac and his relationship with several of his family and why he never married.
The complete story of Sir Isaac Newton involves major and minor scientists, book publishers, political figures and royalty of the time. Christiaan Huygens, Edmond Halley, Robert Hooke, John Flamsteed, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz all are major players in the Isaac Newton story. King James II, Queen Anne, Prince William and King George I all influence Sir Isaac directly or indirectly.
Sir Isaac Newton was a man of many talents. He had professions outside of science. He became the Master of the Mint. This position provided him great influence over money and money matters in England. Yet he never totally gave up the science, research and experimentation. While Master of the Mint he was also a member, Fellow and President of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, commonly knows as The Royal Society.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants “a complete” understanding of Sir Isaac Newton and his time.
This work covers Sir Isaac's work in Opticks, Gravity, Mathematics, Astronomy and his feud over Calculus. Mr. Christianson’s work allows you to discover, through the words of Sir Isaac and his contemporaries, Isaac Newton’s personality, his quirks, intellect and successes. Discover Sir Isaac and his relationship with several of his family and why he never married.
The complete story of Sir Isaac Newton involves major and minor scientists, book publishers, political figures and royalty of the time. Christiaan Huygens, Edmond Halley, Robert Hooke, John Flamsteed, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz all are major players in the Isaac Newton story. King James II, Queen Anne, Prince William and King George I all influence Sir Isaac directly or indirectly.
Sir Isaac Newton was a man of many talents. He had professions outside of science. He became the Master of the Mint. This position provided him great influence over money and money matters in England. Yet he never totally gave up the science, research and experimentation. While Master of the Mint he was also a member, Fellow and President of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, commonly knows as The Royal Society.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants “a complete” understanding of Sir Isaac Newton and his time.
April 28, 2011
Picked this work up before the Easter weekend. Though Christianson's interest in finding the source of Newton's "genius" is a bit old-fashioned, the author's rich recreation of Newton's milieu is worth the price of admission. Some of the discussion of Descartes and others seems a bit simplistic, but gets the job done. We'll see how it turns out...
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September 23, 2010In the Presence of the Creator by Gale E. Christianson (1984)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews