What does Sir Isaac Newton — the great scientist who lived four centuries ago — have to do with modern-day ordinary mortals living in the day-to-day realities of COVID-19?  Like us, the world's most famous early physicist endured the isolation restrictions forced by a pandemic — the Great Plague of 1665.  Some journalists have even playfully suggested that it was Newton's quarantine, the requirement that he "work from home," that spurred some of the greatest discoveries in the history of modern science.

It's true that the period Newton spent in quarantine on the family farm is now known as his annus mirabilis, his "year of wonders."  Newton made some of his groundbreaking discoveries during this time: mathematical insights that led to his discovery of calculus and analytic geometry; advances in optics, light, and the color spectrum; and experiments that led to his most famous theory: universal gravitation.

But the idea that it was isolation alone that unlocked Newton's creativity is simplistic.  Historians of science have found irrefutable evidence that Newton was devoutly religious and that it was his religious convictions that drove his scientific pursuits.  Science historians now know that Newton spent a greater part of his life studying theology than science, writing 1.3 million words on biblical topics.  It was Newton's belief that an intelligent Creator had created a rational world, with a rational order, that gave him the confidence to experiment with mathematical formulas to describe and predict how that world functions.

For example, Newton believed that the solar system could not be the product of random natural causes that were merely, in his words, "blind and fortuitous."  In his General Scholium, Newton argued that the solar system had to be the product of a Cause that was "very well skilled in mechanics and geometry."  He wrote: "This most beautiful system of sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."  And as we know today, the fundamental constants of the universe do appear "tailor-made" to sustain carbon-based life: the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the ratio of the mass of the proton to the electron, and many others.  If these numbers were to change even slightly, it would throw off the critical balance needed to sustain life on Earth.  The force of gravity itself is so finely tuned that a change in its value by even one part out of ten to the fiftieth power would have prevented the formation of a universe capable of sustaining life.

But gravity itself was a new concept, one that required Newton to make a radical break with the past.  Aristotle had taught that the heavens were unchanging, while the Earth was subject to change and decay.  The two spheres were wholly separate and different.  A single explanation could not possibly account for the phenomenon observed in both domains.  This view had held sway in science for 2,000 years.  How did Newton break through such a longstanding belief to arrive at his theory of universal gravitation?

In her book on the history of modern science, The Soul of Science, Professor Nancy Pearcey writes that Newton's theory was based on his belief that a single Mind had designed the universe.  And surely, if the universe was the work of a single Mind, it would follow a single consistent set of principles.  Pearcey writes, "Operating on that assumption, Newton demonstrated that the entire universe is a single uniform system, describable everywhere by the same mathematical laws."

In other words, Newton showed that the same mathematical formulas that described the motions of the Earth — such as the arc of a cannonball — could also describe the motions of the heavens — the orbits of planets.  Newton's formula was revolutionary, overturning 2,000 years of scientific dogma.  At the same time, the formula for gravity was, as Pearcey describes, so simple, so elegant — the crowning achievement of science in providing a mathematical account of nature.  It's no small wonder that Newton became the first scientific "superstar."  And his discovery was entirely driven by his theological convictions.

Newton was also convinced that science gave evidence of God's existence, because he saw design in the cosmos and in our own bodies.  As Pearcey notes, Newton said some things were "simply inexplicable" apart from being the work of an intelligent Being: "Was the eye contrived without skill in optics," he asked, "or the ear without knowledge of sounds?"  So, while many people today may say it's illegitimate to mix science and religion, this was not Newton's view.  In Newton's words, the purpose of science is to "deduce causes from effects, until we come to the very first cause, which certainly is not mechanical" — in other words, a Creative Mind.

There is certainly some truth in the idea that Newton's retreat in 1665 allowed him to focus his attentions on the discoveries that made his mark on history — after all, necessity is, most certainly, "the mother of invention."  As we see even today, the coronavirus lockdown has surely brought out the creative genius in all of us, from the virologist testing potential vaccines in hopes of finding the cure to the homebound student learning how to sew to make protective masks at home for social distancing.

But as history has shown, the real key to Newton's breakthrough discoveries was not forced isolation, but the foundational belief that God had created the universe with a rational order that could be known by rational minds — like ours.  The same conviction drove many of the other early modern scientists — including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton — to make their own contributions to modern science.  And whether today's scientists believe in God or not, the rational intelligibility of nature is the fundamental assumption they must tacitly accept if they are to do science at all — both now and when this pandemic is long past.

Tina Simmons is a retired attorney living in Houston, Texas. Her other publications can be accessed here and here.