Isaac Newton learns Hebrew: Samuel Johnson's Nova cubi Hebræi tabella

This article concerns the earliest evidence for Isaac Newton’s use of Hebrew: a manuscript copy by Newton of part of a work intended to provide a reader of the Hebrew alphabet with the ability to identify or memorize more than 1000 words and to begin to master the conjugations of the Hebrew verb. In describing the content of this unpublished manuscript and establishing its source and original author for the first time, we suggest how and when Newton may have initially become acquainted with the language. Finally, basing our discussion in part on an examination of the reading marks that Newton left in the surviving copies of Hebrew grammars and lexicons that he owned, we will argue that his interest in Hebrew was not intended to achieve linguistic proficiency but remained limited to particular theological queries of singular concern.Michael Joalland’s work was supported by the University of Suwon, 2013. The images are reproduced courtesy of the Syndics of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library

Isaac Newton and the Disenchantment of the Cosmos : iconoclasm and Natural Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century

Isaac Newton remarqua dans la conclusion de ses fameux Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle (1687) : « Les idolâtres s’imaginaient que le soleil, la lune, les astres, les âmes des hommes et toutes les autres parties du monde étaient des parties du Dieu suprême et que, par conséquent, on devait leur rendre un culte, mais c’était une erreur. » Le mathématicien observait de façon similaire en concluant son Traité d’optique : « A la vérité, si les païens n’eussent pas été aveuglés par le culte des faux dieux, ils auraient poussé leur philosophie morale bien au-delà de ce qu’ils nommaient les quatre vertus cardinales ; et au lieu d’enseigner la transmigration des âmes, le culte du soleil et de la lune, et des héros décédés, ils auraient enseigné la raison suprême pour laquelle notre souverain Bienfaiteur et véritable Auteur doit être adoré. » Une question se pose au lecteur contemporain : comment rendre compte de l’insertion de ces considérations théologiques en conclusion de deux traités de nature essentiellement mathématique ?Des éléments de réponse se trouvent dans un manuscrit inachevé de Newton intitulé « Les origines philosophiques de la théologie païenne » (Theologiæ gentilis origines philosophicæ), un traité d’histoire des religions comportant plus de 130.000 mots répartis sur quelque 200 folios. Newton y soutient notamment que la cosmologie des Anciens était de nature théologique du fait qu’elle procédait en partie de la projection sur les éléments du cosmos des âmes des ancêtres de l’humanité déifiés. C’est ainsi que Newton voit dans la catastérisation des premiers hommes l’origine de l’animisme astral, de l’astrolâtrie et de l’astrologie. A ses yeux, la chute originelle de l’homme dans l’idolâtrie aurait corrompu aussi bien la vraie religion que la connaissance de la philosophie naturelle, l’animisme propre aux cosmologies des anciens peuples orientaux formant le pendant philosophique de l’astrolâtrie païenne. Il importait dès lors de désacraliser les éléments du cosmos afin de rétablir aussi bien le culte pur que la science véritable.Après avoir identifié les sources et décrit les principes exégétiques qui sous-tendent le traité des Origines, nous examinerons l’historiographie newtonienne des origines et de la diffusion de la physico-théologie païenne, depuis la naissance du culte des astres en Egypte ancienne jusqu’aux doctrines émanationnistes enseignées par les scolastiques. Nous montrerons ensuite en quoi le système du monde proposé par Newton se présentait comme une alternative désacralisée aux conceptions cosmologiques animistes des Anciens. Nous nous interrogerons finalement sur la provenance de l’animus iconoclaste qui caractérise les écrits théologiques et philosophiques de Newton. Il s’agira de discerner les sources d’influence qui marquèrent sa formation intellectuelle et religieuse au travers de l’examen des polémiques qui divisèrent le milieu réformé au sein duquel il grandit. Il en ressortira que l’auteur des Principes entendait bien désenchanter le cosmos afin de satisfaire les exigences d’un monothéisme austère et intransigeant.Isaac Newton stated in his conclusion to the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) : “Idolaters imagined that the sun, moon, and stars, the souls of men, and other parts of the world were parts of the supreme God, and so were to be worshipped, but they were mistaken.” The famed mathematician correspondingly observed in the conclusion of his treatise on Opticks : “And no doubt, if the worship of false gods had not blinded the heathen, their moral philosophy would have gone farther than to the four cardinal virtues; and instead of teaching the transmigration of souls, and to worship the sun, and moon, and dead heroes, they would have taught us to worship our true Author and Benefactor.” The modern reader may ask : Why conclude two treatises that are fundamentally mathematical in nature with these theological considerations?Part of the answer lays in an uncompleted manuscript by Newton titled “The Philosophical Origins of Pagan Theology” (Theologiæ gentilis origines philosophicæ), a treatise on the history of religions comprising more than 130.000 words on about 200 folios. Newton’s claim therein is that the cosmology of the Ancients was in essence theological since it partly proceeded from the belief that the souls of the deified ancestors of mankind had been projected into elements of the cosmos. This catasterisation of early men was, in Newton’s eyes, the actual origin of stellar animism, star worship, and astrology. Thus, the original fall of man into idolatry corrupted both true religion and the right understanding of natural philosophy, as the intrinsic animism of oriental cosmologies was the philosophical counterpart of pagan astrolatry. Restoring pure worship and true science required, therefore, that elements of the cosmos be first desacralized.In this work, I will first identify the sources and characterize the exegetical principles behind the treatise on Origins. I will then examine the Newtonian historiography of the origins and dissemination of pagan physicotheology, from the beginning of star worship in ancient Egypt to the emanationist doctrines taught by Medieval schoolmen. I will then show how Newton’s own system of the world presented itself as a disenchanted alternative to the animistic cosmological beliefs of the Ancients. I will eventually trace the roots of Newtons’s iconoclastic ethos which characterizes much of his theological and philosophical writings. To this end, I will consider the sources of influence that bore upon Newton’s upbringing in relation to the religious contentions which divided the Reformed milieu he grew up in. I will eventually argue that the author of the Principia meant indeed to desacralize the cosmos to meet the demands of an austere and uncompromising monotheism

Isaac Newton learns Hebrew: Samuel Johnson's Nova cubi Hebræi tabella

This article concerns the earliest evidence for Isaac Newton’s use of Hebrew: a manuscript copy by Newton of part of a work intended to provide a reader of the Hebrew alphabet with the ability to identify or memorize more than 1000 words and to begin to master the conjugations of the Hebrew verb. In describing the content of this unpublished manuscript and establishing its source and original author for the first time, we suggest how and when Newton may have initially become acquainted with the language. Finally, basing our discussion in part on an examination of the reading marks that Newton left in the surviving copies of Hebrew grammars and lexicons that he owned, we will argue that his interest in Hebrew was not intended to achieve linguistic proficiency but remained limited to particular theological queries of singular concern.Michael Joalland’s work was supported by the University of Suwon, 2013. The images are reproduced courtesy of the Syndics of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library

Réactivité d’anions d’intérêt astrophysique : exploration expérimentale

National audienc

Cosmic anions in the laboratory

International audienc

Cosmic anions in the laboratory

International audienc

Elusive anion growth in Titan’s atmosphere: low temperature kinetics of the C3N−− + HC3N reaction

International audienceIon chemistry appears to be deeply involved in the formation of heavy molecules in the upper atmosphere of Titan. These large species form the seeds of the organic aerosols responsible for the opaque haze surrounding the biggest satellite of Saturn. The chemical pathways involving individual anions remain however mostly unknown. The determination of the rates of the elementary reactions with ions and the identification of the products are essential to the progress in our understanding of Titan’s upper atmosphere. We have taken steps in that direction through the investigation of the low temperature reactivity of C3N−,−, which was tentatively identified in the spectra measured by the CAPS-ELS instrument of the Cassini spacecraft during its high altitude flybys. The reaction of this anion with HC3N, one of the most abundant trace organics in the atmosphere, has been studied over the 49–294 K temperature range in uniform supersonic flows using the CRESU technique. The proton transfer is found to be the main exit channel ( > 91%) of the CView the MathML source315N−− + HC3N reaction. It remains however indistinguishable with the non-isotopically labeled CView the MathML source314N−− reactant. The T−1/2T−1/2 temperature dependence of this proton transfer reaction and its global rate are reasonably well reproduced theoretically using an average dipole orientation model. A minor exit channel, reactive detachment ( < 9%), has also been uncovered, although the nature of the neutral products has not been determined. It is concluded that the CView the MathML source314N−− + HC3N reaction cannot contribute to the growth of molecular anions in the upper atmosphere of Titan. Due to the low branching into the neutral exit channel, it cannot contribute either to the growth of neutrals even assuming a complete mass transfer