In 1662 , a 19 - twelvemonth - old Isaac Newton bulge carrying a leather - bound journal , which he used to track pecuniary resource and work out math problems . But he also used it to cover something secret . On two pages , Newton scribbled a cryptic code , a code that go unsolved for over 300 years . In 1964 , historians at last remove the script . They disclose a leaning of sins : 57 of Newton ’s wrongdoings . The daybook — today called the Fitzwilliam notebook — paints the Enlightenment icon as a mood - sway , mellisonant - serrated , spiritually confounded teenager . Here are some of Newton ’s sinful gems .
Sins of the Stomach
Newton had a guilty appetite : He get Malus pumila to Christian church , stole plum , and substitute petition with pie .
•“Eating an apple at Thy house . ”•“Peevishness at Master Clarks for a piece of lettuce and butter . ”(When he was 12 , Newton was sent to a boarding school for five class . He resided with William Clarke , an chemist who ignited Newton ’s interest in chemistry.)•“Stealing cherry cobs from Eduard Storer . “(Storer was Clarke ’s stepson.)•“Denying that I did so . “•“Robbing my mother[']s box of plums and sugar . ”• “ Making pie on Sunday dark . ”
Sins of Abuse
Newton may have been a fisticuffs maestro : He was a fighter and a wee bit of a trickster .
•“Threat[e]ning my father and female parent Smith to burne them and the house over them . “(Newton apportion a tense human relationship with his female parent and stepfather , Reverend Barnabas Smith.)•“Wishing death and desire it to some . ”•“Striking many . ”•“Beating Arthur Storer . “(Arthur was Clarke ’s other stepson , who afterward became America ’s first colonial uranologist . Newton supposedly loved Arthur ’s sister , Katherine.)•“Punching my baby . ”•“Putting a pin in John Keys hat on Thy day to pick him . ”•“Calling Dorothy Rose a fornicatress . “(A “ jade ” was a “ worn - out horse , ” but when apply to women , it basically have in mind “ whore . ” )
Sins on Sunday
Sometimes , Newton forgot that Sunday was supposed to be a day of residuum , practice egregious Sunday sin like trap play - fashioning and ( tisk ! ) recital .
•“Making a feather while on Thy day . ”•“Denying that I made it . ”•“Making a mousetrap on Thy day . ”•“Contriving of the bell on Thy day . ”•“Squirting water on Thy day . ”•“Swimming in a kimnel on Thy day . ”(A kimnel was a tub , often for salting meat.)•“Twisting a corduroy on Sunday dawning . ”•“Reading the chronicle of the Christian champions on Sunday . ”
Miscellaneous Guilt Trips
Forget that range of a function of Isaac Newton as a dainty mathematician in a small-grained wig . Instead , call back of him as a crossbow - maintain teenager who steals your bathroom towel and lie down about the germ in your haircloth .
• “ Setting my affection on money learn pleasure more than Thee . ”•“A relapse . ”• “ Denying my chamberfellow of the noesis of him that took him for a sot . ”(In Middle English , using the term " sot " was a fashionable mode to call someone a bibulous fool.)•“Using Wilford[']s towel to dispense with my own . ”•“Lying about a worm . ”•“Denying a crossbow to my female parent and grandmother though I knew it . ”
For the full list of Newton ’s sins , visitthe Newton Project , an archive of the scientist ’s written work .
