Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Newton set 2060 for end of world
The Daily Telegraph ^ | February 22, 2003 | Jonathan Petre

Posted on 02/21/2003 5:35:31 PM PST by MadIvan

Sir Isaac Newton, Britain's greatest scientist, predicted the date of the end of the world - and it is only 57 years away.

His theories about Armageddon have been unearthed by academics from little-known handwritten manuscripts in a library in Jerusalem.

The thousands of pages show Newton's attempts to decode the Bible, which he believed contained God's secret laws for the universe.

Newton, who was also a theologian and alchemist, predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would follow plagues and war and would precede a 1,000-year reign by the saints on earth - of which he would be one.

The most definitive date he set for the apocalypse, which he scribbled on a scrap of paper, was 2060.

Newton's fascination with the end of the world, which has been researched by a Canadian academic, Stephen Snobelen, is to be explored in a documentary, Newton: The Dark Heretic, on BBC2 next Saturday.

"What has been coming out over the past 10 years is what an apocalyptic thinker Newton was," Malcolm Neaum, the producer, said.

"He spent something like 50 years and wrote 4,500 pages trying to predict when the end of the world was coming. But until now it was not known that he ever wrote down a final figure. He was very reluctant to do so."

Thousands of Newton's papers, which had lain in a trunk in the house of the Earl of Portsmouth for 250 years, were sold by Sotheby's in the late 1930s.

John Maynard Keynes, the economist, bought many of the texts on alchemy and theology. But much of the material went to an eccentric collector, Abraham Yahuda, and was stored in the Hebrew National Library. It was among these documents that the date was found.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: date; newton; worldend
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-140 next last
To: MadIvan
I may or may not be around for that. I'll be 81.
41 posted on 02/21/2003 8:19:45 PM PST by Dan from Michigan ("Yippee Kai Aye......")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
Re: The most definitive date he set for the apocalypse, which he scribbled on a scrap of paper, was 2060.

Gad! Noooooo! I will only be 113 by then!

So many fish, so little time!

42 posted on 02/21/2003 8:21:13 PM PST by sonofatpatcher2 (The French! Even President Bartlett called them wossies! (^;{)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
And Kepler devoted reams of paper to discussing the probable sex of the angels.

Hey, everybody needs a hobby.

43 posted on 02/21/2003 8:21:29 PM PST by Interesting Times
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RLJVet
Where is that?

The parable of the fig tree (matthew 24:32), just before the day and hour verse (matthew 24:36).

I hate to get into scripture quoting, but I had to here to answer your question.

44 posted on 02/21/2003 8:28:57 PM PST by templar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: templar
Well, I started it.
Thanks.
45 posted on 02/21/2003 8:32:57 PM PST by RLJVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: RLJVet
>>>...no one knows the day nor the hour.

He didn't say the day or hour. He said Year. :-)

46 posted on 02/21/2003 8:44:17 PM PST by Dan(9698)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: RightWhale
Newton became quite mystical in his dotage. Quite a change for the premier mathematician of his day, but maybe not unusual for old scientists.

I think the theory is that he suffered the effects of mercury poisoning (from his experimentation in alchemy) in his old age and became rather loony. He almost lost the prestige he earned earlier in life.

47 posted on 02/21/2003 8:49:57 PM PST by CharacterCounts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan; Siobhan; narses; Salvation; Aquinasfan
According to the great medieval scholar al-Suyuti (15th cent. A.D.), it will happen in 2076 A.D. (the Muslim year 1500 A.H.). His treatise on the subject is currently in reprint, and is a hot item in the mideast

Expect terrorism to get progressively worse until then, as more and more Muslims catch millennial fever.

48 posted on 02/21/2003 8:51:35 PM PST by Dajjal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Eat, drink and be merry...for tomorrow we die.

Since we're doing scripture:

“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:19-21)

49 posted on 02/21/2003 8:58:53 PM PST by John Twenty 28
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN
See how hard it is to be precise?

It's not that hard to be precise.

It's hard to be accurate.

My prediction is that the world will end on precisely 2061-06-23 17:23:44.9922. I can't guarantee the accuracy of this prediction.

50 posted on 02/21/2003 9:08:30 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
If it happens, it will be by an Islamibomb.
51 posted on 02/21/2003 10:04:53 PM PST by Andy from Beaverton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
Guess I better leave a few one-way tickets in my will to my future grandchildren for passage to a moon colony. ;)
52 posted on 02/21/2003 10:08:46 PM PST by Brett66
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan
Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most brilliant men of all time. It figures he would approach the Bible with an abacus in hand.
53 posted on 02/21/2003 10:11:42 PM PST by xm177e2 (smile) :-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CanisMajor2002
UN: "This is your LAST LAST LAST LAST PENULTIMATE chance Saddam! Come out now, with your hands up, or we'll take off 2 weeks from the deadline for your LAST LAST LAST LAST LAST FINAL chance! We aren't kidding this time!"
54 posted on 02/21/2003 10:14:17 PM PST by xm177e2 (smile) :-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TomServo
"Well hell - I'll be dead anyway. Too bad for the rest of you losers, though. Sayonara Suckers!!" ;-)"

Same here.

Doomsday bump to you.

55 posted on 02/21/2003 10:20:01 PM PST by blackbart.223
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: John Twenty 28
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up . . .

For those of us who believe, the promise is sobering. We keep a sharp lookout for the signs of impending overflash so we will not become trapped in the inferno as did the concert-goers in Rhode Island.

56 posted on 02/21/2003 10:21:07 PM PST by Kevin Curry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts
The Earth's magnetic poles have been reversing themselves for billions of years previous to now.

Some tout that magnetic pole reversal will bring about the end of the world.

How come the world's still here then? ;-)

57 posted on 02/21/2003 10:25:30 PM PST by RoughDobermann
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
"My prediction is that the world will end on precisely 2061-06-23 17:23:44.9922. I can't guarantee the accuracy of this prediction."

Damn. Your making it hard to plan my activities for that date and time.

58 posted on 02/21/2003 10:31:19 PM PST by blackbart.223
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: RoughDobermann
"How come the world's still here then? ;-)"

It isn't. You just think it is.

59 posted on 02/21/2003 10:34:09 PM PST by blackbart.223
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: blackbart.223
So, you're saying that The Matrix has me? Damn. I knew I should've stayed in bed this morning...
60 posted on 02/21/2003 10:40:42 PM PST by RoughDobermann
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-140 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson