If I Have Seen So Far...

One of the most famous scientific quotations of all time was penned by Sir Issac Newton.  You know the one, "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants." Okay, the usual quote edits out the "ye."

I love this quote because it is used so often and so completely out-of-context.  Sort of like the phrase, "With all due respect...."

The quotation was included in a letter Newton wrote to a scientist known as Robert Hooke.  Hooke was an interesting character.  He was a brilliant scientist, versed in virtually every field.  However, he was poor for most of his life and worked as a lab assistant to other, better monied scientists.  Both Newton and Hooke had a reputation for be irritable and quarrelsome.

The quote arose after Hooke had accused Newton of stealing his ideas in a recent publication that Newton had written on optics.  Newton included the quote in his letter responding to this accusation.  

One other detail is of some significance.  Hooke was known to be very short.  Very short.  

The quotation isn't magnanimous at all.  It is an insult intended to deride a competitor physically.

The battle between Newton and Hooke continued throughout their lives.  After Hooke died and Newton became president of the Royal Society, the only known portrait of Hooke, hanging on the walls of the Royal Society, disappeared.  To date, we really don't know exactly what he looked like.

Portrait Credit: Issac Newton painted by Godfrey Kneller, 1689