By M Duck and M Petry (translators), with an introduction by M Duck
Imperial College Press
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is undoubtedly famous for his literary work, however it is not widely known that he was also fond of science and wrote a polemic text on Newton’s theory of light and colours, which he did not accept. He tried to reproduce the experiment that Newton used to demonstrate that light is heterogeneous but, according to what Goethe himself wrote, he could not obtain the same results.
The book provides an English translation of Goethe’s polemic, completed by an introduction in which a possible justification of this resistance by Goethe to Newton’s theory is given. Many suppositions have been offered: maybe he was prevented from reasoning clearly by a psychological refusal, or perhaps he was simply unable to understand Newton’s experiments and reproduce them well.
In the introduction to this volume, the editor suggests that the reason for Goethe’s stubborn attitude, which made him preserve his belief that light is immutable and that colours result from the interaction of light and darkness, is theological. Goethe believed in the spiritual nature of light, and he could not conceive it as being anything other than simple, immutable and unknowable.
This book, addressed to historians of science, philosophers and scientists, will allow the reader to discover Goethe’s polemic against Newton and to obtain new insights into the multifaceted personality of the German poet.
