Talk:Isaac Newton

Semi-protected edit request on 5 April 2026

Change L'Hospital to L'Hopital (Citation 53) under the section Scientific Studies Calliclessays (talk) 11:18, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: It's a direct quote, and we don't mess with that: MOS:PMC. L'Hospital was the conventional spelling in the 17th and 18th centuries, including by the man himself. GrindtXX (talk) 12:22, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

Wrong year of death

The year of death is wrong. In the introduction it states 31/20 March 1727, and the factoids states 31 March, 1727 (O.S. 20 March, 1726). I can confirm that Isaac Newton died in 1726, not 1727, because I just visited his grave earliest today. It's wrong in other parts of the article, as well. ~2026-27854-70 (talk) 21:09, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton agrees with Wikipedia.

https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/sir_Isaac_Newton/135134 also does. tgeorgescu (talk) 21:29, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

He died in 1726 according to the calendar in use at the time, so that's the year stated on his monument. The date equates to 1727 according to the calendar we now use, so that's the year conventionally given in authoritative modern sources. This is explained in note a, or if you want more details try Old Style and New Style dates. There is no error. GrindtXX (talk) 00:39, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The change from old to new style dates only amount for the 11 days. The linked article clearly states this. The change from the Julian to the Gregorian did not at an entire year to the calendar. "The second discarded the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days in the calendar for September 1752 to do so."

The additional year doesn't make sense when taken into account with his birthday. Note a does not explain this 1 year discrepancy. His birth date was 10 days after in the NS date (4 Jan 1643 is 10 days after 24 Dec 1642), but his death 1 year and 11 days? This suggests he was 1 year older when recorded in the new style. The 1727 date is clearly wrong. ~2026-28512-24 (talk) 20:18, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

The end of the year in Old Style was 25 March (Lady Day), surprising thought that may seem - footnote a also explains this. Mikenorton (talk) 20:27, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

If that's the case, then his birth date is wrong and should be 1644. He cannot have been 84-years-old in the new style, and 83-years-old in the old style. ~2026-28605-62 (talk) 20:55, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

In Old Style he was born on 25 December 1642 and reached his 84th birthday on 25 December 1726. Mikenorton (talk) 08:52, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

The birth date seems right now but the death date seems wrong. 20 March is before new years in O.S. so it should not be in the same year as 31 March N.S. This needs to be fixed, but I'm not sure which year is therefore correct.  Nixinova  T ⁄ C  03:29, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

In Old Style Newton died on March 20 1726, a few days before the changing of the year. However, many sources "correct" the year to New Style while leaving the date in Old Style, so 20 March 1727. This page from Westminster Abbey uses that "convention" but does give the inscription on his tomb which clearly uses 20 March 1726. It doesn't help that he was buried eight days later in 1727 (after the New Year), a year on which all are agreed. I personally think that we should use the full old style form, but the relevant part of the Manual of Style MOS:OSNS states "For either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, the beginning of the year should be treated as 1 January even if a different start-of-year date was observed in the place being discussed", however it goes on to say "If an article contains Julian calendar dates after 4 October 1582 (as in the October Revolution), or if a start-of-year date other than 1 January was in force in the place being discussed, or both, a footnote should be provided on the first usage, explaining the calendar usage adopted for the article. The calendar usage should be compatible with this guideline.", which I take to mean we could use 1726 OS, as long as we we make it clear in a footnote. I note that the footnote (a) that used to refer to this has been removed. There's no doubt that "a start-of-year date other than 1 January was in force" at the time of his death. So there are three different ways of referring to his date of death. Mikenorton (talk) 14:46, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

I sourced the dates to

• Gleick, J. (2007). Isaac Newton. United Kingdom: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

which agrees with the two online sources. If anyone has reliable sources with different values we can discuss how to include other points of view. Johnjbarton (talk) 16:15, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Thinking further on this, perhaps we could just add a short footnote after the translation of the inscription on his tomb stating "At the time of Newton's death the new year started on 25 March, so he is recorded as dying in 1726" or something similar. Mikenorton (talk) 17:16, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

All we need to do is to return the article to the state it was in on 20 May, before Johnjbarton started messing about with it. It then included a footnote explaining the calendar change, which Johnjbarton deleted on the grounds that it was unsourced and "controversial". It was not remotely controversial: it was factually accurate, and the result of informed consensus following literally dozens of former discussions (look at the Talk page archives). It was unsourced, but if you want more (sourced) information, you just have to look at Old Style and New Style dates, and indeed Dual dating. The problem is that this page attracts the attention of editors whose interests are primarily scientific, and who don't appreciate that history has its own technicalities and conventions. ~2026-31499-19 (talk) 19:27, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Per WP:Verify content must be sourced. This includes footnotes. Johnjbarton (talk) 20:13, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

My proposal would be for the "Recognition" section

Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25th December 1642, and died on 20th March 1726.

I've added a notelist template to display the note content Mikenorton (talk) 12:51, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

You don't need a reference for explaining OSNS differences, thats what the respective articles are for. It should not be removed arbitrarily.  Nixinova  T ⁄ C  10:24, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

I removed the unsourced date. I did this because various editors had been altering the date and without a source there is no way to determine which value is correct. The link was simply co-lateral damage. Johnjbarton (talk) 15:08, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

You didn't remove any "unsourced date". All you removed was an explanation of why the dates appear in two different forms. Clearly all a bit too technical for you. Job done, and Wikipedia readers left in ignorance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ~2026-31997-63 (talk) 16:26, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

If you think it is too technical for me then it certainly needs a source. Johnjbarton (talk) 17:03, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

... because you are the wisest person in the universe, and what you know not is not knowledge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ~2026-39852-47 (talk) 16:46, 15 July 2026 (UTC)

References

Semi-protected edit request on 16 June 2026

Change Theology - Religious Views, Paragraph 1, line 4 to 'Knowledge' instead of 'Knowledg'. Ryanhunt366 (talk) 00:22, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: It's a direct quote using archaic spelling: MOS:PMC. See also "onely" and "Mathematicks" on the same sentence. GrindtXX (talk) 00:32, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Totally missed 'onely' and 'Mathematicks' when reading the sentence. No problem. Ryanhunt366 (talk) 00:42, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Al Biruni

Al Burundi had gravity figured out before Isaac newton, but due European centralisation his work was overshadowed

History of gravitational theory#Al-Biruni. tgeorgescu (talk) 07:32, 24 July 2026 (UTC)