Isaac Newton, Alchemist

One of the lesser known facts about Sir Isaac Newton, the man who is credited with formulating the theory of gravity, is that he was an alchemist. Although he wrote over a million words on the subject, after his death in 1727, the Royal Society deemed that they were "not fit to be printed." The papers were rediscovered in the middle of the twentieth century and most scholars now concede that Newton was first an foremost an alchemist. It is also becoming obvious that the inspiration for Newton's laws of light and theory of gravity came from his alchemical work. As a practicing alchemist, Newton spent days locked up in his laboratory. Some say that he succeeded in changing lead into gold.

Newton's private papers and alchemical treatises indicate that he was motivated by a notion that alchemical wisdom extended back to ancient times, that the Hermetic tradition -- the body of alchemical knowledge – had originated in the mists of time and to have been given to humanity through supernatural agents. Newton translated the Emerald Tablet, a famous alchemical work by Hermes Trismegistus. He also believed in keeping his alchemy principles secret.