Isaac Newton Was Apparently An Alchemist, Scientists Discovered

For scientists, alchemy is not a topic of much concern, it has even been dismissed as a mystical, unreliable science. By contrast, well-known scientist Isaac Newton showed great interest in alchemy and spent his life writing millions of books about this pseudoscience. His desire was to use those insights to better explain the nature of the Earth. 

Scientists have investigated the evidence of alchemical texts after finding the first-hand recipe of Philosopher's Stone written by the legendary scientist. Reported by National Geographic, they have rediscovered Newton’s manuscript, which is now owned by a non-profit organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, named the Chemical Heritage Foundation. The organization is uploading scanned images and transcriptions to a digital forum where people can access to Newton's alchemy heritage.

In the recipe, Newton described in detail the method of creating 'sophick mercury', which is a substance that plays a major role in the formation of Philosopher's stone. The stone is famous for its ability to turn base metals such as lead into gold or silver, which are precious metals.

It can be seen that Issac Newton, the initiative scientist of modern physics of mankind, who discovered the electromagnetic spectrum of light, was deeply influenced by alchemy. Although there has been no evidence showing that Newton actually created "sophick mercury," it is believed by the scientists that his manuscripts have great scientific significance in inspiring them to recognize that white light is a combination of many different colors.

In fact, it was an alchemist named George Starkey that inspired Newton for further study. Starkey invented a recipe relating to the distillation of mercury and then heated it with gold. The result of the recipe is an alloy with subtle, branched spurts. Although the exact relevance and significance of the invention have not been found, Newton was the first person to note the alchemy mechanism for the exploitation of lead ore. Currently, contemporary scientists have begun to generate Philosopher's Stone through some initial efforts, according to a science historian at Indiana University, William Newman.