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The world will end in 2060, according to Newton
Last updated at 16:07pm on 19.06.07His famously analytical mind worked out the laws of gravity and unravelled the motion of the planets.
And when it came to predicting the end of the world, Sir Isaac Newton was just as precise.
He believed the Apocalypse would come in 2060 – exactly 1,260 years after the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, according to a recently published letter.
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The document reveals that Newton predicted the world will end in 2060
Luckily for modern scientists in awe of his achievements, Newton based this figure on religion rather than reasoning.
In a letter from 1704 which has gone on show in Jerusalem's Hebrew University, Newton uses the Bible's Book of Daniel to calculate the date for the Apocalypse.
The famous scientist
The note reveals a deeply spiritual side to a man more usually regarded as a strict rationalist. Newton, known as the founder of modern physics, secured a royal exemption from ordination in the Church of England – something normally expected of academics in his day – so he would not have to follow its teachings.
But he confidently stated in the letter that the Bible proved the world would end in 2060, adding: "It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner."
Continuing in a decidedly sniffy tone, he wrote: "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."
The exact words from the Book of Daniel that inspired his prediction are not clear.
But he got at least one thing right – in another document, he interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ended.
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The letter is on public display for the first time
Newton, who died 280 years ago, wrote that the end of days would see "the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews (from) captivity and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom".
Yemima Ben-Menahem, one of the curators of the exhibition, said: "These documents show a scientist guided by religious fervour, by a desire to see God's actions in the world."
The papers – including more prosaic notes about his income and the price of tin – lay in a trunk at the house of the Earl of Portsmouth for 250 years before being auctioned in the late 1930s.
Since 1969, many have been locked away in Israel's national library.
Reader views (17)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
im 15 years old and the world ending in 2012 or 2060 thats not true none of it is true god would come soon only he and him only knows when the world would end.
- Kimberly, brooklyn
okay the world didn't end in 2006 or 2009
but what if it does later?
You never know
as Natasha said the lord only knows
and maybe it will end tomorrow
who knows
it's like you go to bed and you don't know if you will wake up (you can die anywhere anytime) it's pretty much the same
so lets stay open-minded shall we?
- Diana V, Haarlem, The Netherlands
I writing a screenplay on Newton. I have a number of angles based on rivalries and his peculiar personal life. Fatio, Challoner, Hooke, his interests in biblical interpretation. Any interesting leads most welcome.
- Steve Green, london
I believe more in the law of attraction, than I do the end of the world.
Every decade we have a new year, that someone thinks the world will end. In 1999, a lot of people thought the world would end with Y2K.
I knew about Mayan prophecies in the late 1980s. And now as 2012 approaches, quite a few think the world will end and are stockpiling food for Dec 21, 2012.
We are a, species of fear and we breed fear in to our society and consume everything around us, as if there is no tomorrow. This is the problem with people who think the world will end.
There is no after thought of the future of mankind. This has been one of our biggest problems, as a species and something we will have to get past, as the human race WILL live on and eventually move in to space and colonize the solar system and beyond.
The world will not end in 2012, 2060, nor will it any time soon. We will however waste a lot of our natural resources, destroy and inflict pain on each other and as I said at the beginning, the law of attraction is at work.
Like minded people are pooling together . That means that everything good or bad is evolving and growing. So people who believe in the end times are creating their own end time.
It is obvious to me, at least, that with the christian coalition, and other sects growing, with the fighting in Israel against the Palestinians, we are CREATING a global collision course between these factions, that inevitably will lead to a lot of death, but not the end.
- Kelly Sigethy, Calgary Canada
Right ok i'll bend lets say the world was going to end! but dont you think with all the predictions and stuff that it would of happend by now, i mean what about that prediction in 2006 that the world will end (hmm must of skiped us then) and now we've got some clown predicting the world will end in 2009. im not saying it wont! but i really agree with the people who beilive that the only person who knows when and how the world will end is the lord himself! and mean the world has survived for billions of years and im really sure that is will survive for many more billions of years. but everybody has has there own opinion about these things and whatever you say wont change the way they think!.
- Natasha, london
Oh Please, we are just an animal like any other. The difference is we are mentally ill. We are deluded , arrogant and naive. Let me explain. We believe we are superior because of our large brain/ superior intellect/that we have a consience/that we have morals. Try turning that on it's head. Other animals have abilities that we don't have, for instance a lion runs faster than we can, a bird can fly , a tortoise lives longer than we do. It's quite convenient that we choose the criteria on which to decide which animal is superior. Other animals aren't impressed by us.A lion runs fast enough to catch it's prey, a bird flies far enough to live but maybe , just maybe the human race can't think far enough to survive (think about it) maybe we're not superior but inferior. We're clever in the way an autistic person has an ability to draw or play music but do we really see things the way they really are ? We are a species out of control blinded by arrogance.Just as it was wrong to assume that everything revolved around the Earth we are wrong to assume that everything revolves around the human race. We are maybe just not clever enough, not as clever as we like to think we are. It's estimated that 99% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct, so why not us. If you were to take a keyboard as a a timespan of time on earth we have been around for less than the width of a piano string !! So why do we believe there is a God, Why did we bother with all that 'pre history' ?
- Ian Moss, Huddersfield , uk
I think it's all RUBISH!!! THIS is what the bible says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left." (Matthew 24:36-41 [NIV])
- Hippie, Groves, US
There are many signs of the end of the world coming. For example: natural disasters, war, economic down falls. All in all, the end of the world will come when no one expects it. It is not our place to judge when it comes because it says in the bible, Trust in the Lord with all of your Heart, and you shall have ever lasting life.
- Rachel, Orlando, Florida
The End is near but it's interesting to see even one of the most well-known and respected scientists, Newton, couldn't avoid the temptation of date-setting. The Bible clearly states that we could taste the season of the end time, but no one for sure could predict the hour and day. It will not only disgrace the Bible but also disgrace directly to God Himself. However, I strongly believe now is the season and the last generation that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24. See you all up there! God bless!
- Ansen Li, San Gabriel, US
The end of the world is in 2060? That is funny because the last I heard it is supposed to end in 2012. I also heard that in 2012 the world ends by a natural diaster, probably by man himself. Karen
- k.k., burbank california
be ready its coming...soon........
- Christ Mase, wilts uk
Boy...did he miss the mark by a generation? The world will end in sometime in the next decade according to biblical history, probably beginning in spring 2016 and concluding with total destruction of the Satanic reign in the fall immediately followed by the messianic reign of a thousand years. I wonder if it will all end this year but things must get worse then better. One thing IS for sure..it will get here when it gets here...EH?
- Et, AZ USA
Newton is one of the greatest we had. He tried many different ways to find the true answer to life and the whole world.
- Carol G. Lin, Oregon
I will be over 100 then so will not feel I am losing out. Personally I would like to witness it from a beautiful beach with an attractive lady friend. A toast with Louis Roederer Cristal would seem appropriate!
- Michael, London
If true, this will be perfect.
I'll be 88, an ideal age, I believe, to witness the end of the world.
I hope my teeth will still be able to manage popcorn by then.
- Md, London, UK
"Newton based this figure on religion rather than reasoning" -
Phew! Luckily it's all not real then.
- Andy, London
He was probably right to base it on religion. What are most of the wars based upon - religion. There was the theory that the war to end all wars would start in the middle east - reason for the war going on there now religion. Why can't we look at the man rather than his god?
- Minime, Southend, England
