Isaac Newton's occult studies

The unpublished work of Isaac Newton included much that would would now be classified as occult studies. He worked extensively outside the strict bounds of science and mathematics, particularly on chronology, alchemy and Biblical interpretation (especially of the Apocalypse).

It is, however, somewhat anachronistic to assume that the importance he attached to these is closely connected to contemporary attitudes. The work modern observers would call scientific, were perhaps to him of lesser importance. He was of his time, in still placing emphasis on rediscovering the occult wisdom of the ancients.

It has been suggested that:

• Newton believed that Pythagoras must have known about gravity, and even toyed with the idea of including margin notes attesting it.
• That he for that reason did not use his "fluxions", but geometric proofs which he thought would have been accessible to geometers of Pythagoras's era.
• That he also believed that Hebrews before the Great Flood knew of the atomic structure of matter.