The founder of classical physics was a devoted alchemist.

1687

Newton left an estimated million words of alchemical manuscripts and seriously sought the philosopher's stone; John Maynard Keynes, who bought the papers, called him 'the last of the magicians'.

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The event

• Newton's Principia1687 · London. Isaac Newton published the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, setting out his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. One mechanics for heaven and Earth became the foundation of classical physics.

17th century

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