Did you know that history's greatest scientists

[Sanity Check]

Without google searching.

 

Did you know that many of history's greatest scientists...

 

...Were fans of the occult?

 

If so, what is your favorite story or aspect to scientists researching occultism?

 

edit

 

 

Covers some of Pythagoras, Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Einstein's forays into the occult.

 

This was mind blowing the first time I saw it.

 

Nikola Tesla was famous for having a system of numerology where he believed the numbers 3, 6, 9 held keys to unlocking the universe. Tesla was also famous for saying "the day science begins to study non material phenomena, it will make more progress in a decade than all previous centuries combined."

 

It is possible that the greatest scientists were intensely curious people who got into and studied everything, leaving no stone unturned.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Sanity Check

[Nintendao]

I remember reading that Sir Isaac Newton was a celibate priest

[wandelaar]

Newton investigated alchemy. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton's_occult_studies

[MBZ]

Jack Parsons 

[Maddie]

2 hours ago, Nintendao said:

I remember reading that Sir Isaac Newton was a celibate priest

 

Celibate yes, priest no. 

 

Well obviously how can one not list Albert Einstein for relativity, Nikolai Tesla for electricity, Loui Pasture for microbe theory and of course pasteurization, and Marie Currie for radiation. Also Galileo for astronomy and Pythagoras for mathematics. One of my personal contemporary hero's is Neil DeGrasse Tyson for his efforts to popularize science in an era of declining scientific literacy in the United States.  

[SirPalomides]

Well, yeah. That’s basically the history of science. It is uncomfortable for the positivist consensus to acknowledge but modern science developed out of various disciplines of “natural philosophy” that were inseparable from magical or esoteric practices. One of the silliest things about that film Agora is that it depicts Hypatia as some sort of 18th-19th century empiricist. 

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

Without google searching.

 

Did you know that many of history's greatest scientists...

 

...Were fans of the occult?

 

Not really, I think I discovered that about a year after the internet started .

 

If so, what is your favorite story or aspect to scientists researching occultism?

 

Isaac Newton's  translation of the 'Emerald Tablet'  .

 

[Sanity Check]

Updated OP.

 

Have fun.

[Nungali]

1 hour ago, MBZ said:

Jack Parsons 

 

I read 'Strange Angel' but have not seen the tv version .  I know of Jack through occult research ; he was an OTO Lodge Master for some time  and got 'into trouble' of Crowley  for ...... wait for it ...... being involved with unsavory characters .      Ie.  L.Ron Hubbard .

 

Apparently l. Ron  nicked off with Parson's  wife, their joint bank account a stash of OTO 'stuff' and the boat . A 'magical myth' says Jack found out at the last minute , rushed down to the marina and 'called up a storm' which drove the boat back to shore and Hubbard  was arrested  .

 

But the case showed that  Jack rushed down to the marina ..... and called the coast guard , and they  drove them back to shore .

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

Without google searching.

 

Did you know that many of history's greatest scientists...

 

...Were fans of the occult?

 

If so, what is your favorite story or aspect to scientists researching occultism?

 

edit

 

 

Covers some of Pythagoras, Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Einstein's forays into the occult.

 

This was mind blowing the first time I saw it.

 

Nikola Tesla was famous for having a system of numerology where he believed the numbers 3, 6, 9 held keys to unlocking the universe. Tesla was also famous for saying "the day science begins to study non material phenomena, it will make more progress in a decade than all previous centuries combined."

 

It is possible that the greatest scientists were intensely curious people who got into and studied everything, leaving no stone unturned.

 

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-022-00530-0

[Nungali]

Or the reverse ; using scientific principles to study the occult . 

 

'The method of science - the aim of religion .'

 

http://rodneyorpheus.com/writings/occult/the-method-of-science-the-aim-of-religion/

[SirPalomides]

That video is pretty bad. First of all, it doesn’t name its sources and takes at face value claims made about Pythagoras centuries after he lived. A video purporting to reveal “what they don’t teach you in school” could start by demonstrating some basic critical thinking skills. Not that examining the so-called Pythagorean tradition isn’t worthwhile- it’s all very fascinating, but the sources are much later and very much overlapping with Platonism. This stream gets stirred together with Hermeticism, alchemy, etc and feeds into the Christian and especially Islamic esoteric currents that developed a lot of the West’s scientific heritage. But the video just skips 2000 years to Newton. What? 

[Nungali]

' You  tube  '     

 

From 'Bondi Hipsters'

 

Father ; " Look son , I can put you up for a  while, but this keeps happening . Where are you going, what are you doing ? I'll tell you what , you can stay here and go to university - study something , learn something  anything you want , you choose , and I will pay for it . Find yourself a career , a direction something. I will support you until you get on your feet ."

 

Son ; " That's the problem with your old generation , you just dont understand . Why would anyone want to go to University nowadays  when you can just learn whatever you want from watching youtubes ? "

 

 

[wandelaar]

For those interested in the occult interests of great scientists there are lots of decent historical studies available. Nothing secretive about it. That the subject is seldom mentioned in school books is simply because schoolbooks necessarily focus on the highlights and the most important results for the students to learn.

 

I have my doubts about the extend of the occult interests of Tesla, as far as I know he was a skeptic and mainly interested in debunking paranormal claims. Are there credible sources to prove otherwise?

[Nungali]

There might be  ... and a whole lot of interestingly related stuff  .... but  ......   'fans of the occult'  ? 

 

I cant see Newton or  Swedenborg or Tesla  .... as  'fans  of the occult' .  

 

 

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Lynn Thorndyke didn't call his, literally exhaustive, eight volume history of science:

A History of Magic and Experimental Science

For no reason, he did it because he had to.

 

By the way, my much used and well worn copy of the Key of Solomon, refers to its magical operations as experiments.  Historically magic and also alchemy, were basically the "experiment science" of Philosophy, largely that of Plato and Aristotle, as it existed in antiquity and through the Renaissance and into early modern times.

 

ZYD

[wandelaar]

The series mentioned by Zhongyongdaoist is highly relevant for the older scientists, magicians, astrologists, etc. 

 

Specifically about Newton's alchemy see:

https://www.google.nl/books/edition/The_Foundations_of_Newton_s_Alchemy/wwc4AAAAIAAJ?gbpv=1

Edited December 16, 2023 by wandelaar

[Zhongyongdaoist]

On 12/16/2023 at 2:22 PM, wandelaar said:

Specifically about Newton's alchemy see:

https://www.google.nl/books/edition/The_Foundations_of_Newton_s_Alchemy/wwc4AAAAIAAJ?gbpv=1

 

I read this book decades ago.  From my own understanding of laboratory alchemy and the description in the book of Newton's alchemy he was quite wrong in his approach, but I don't wish at this time too get into a more detailed response on that, though if enough people are interested when I have time I may expand on this matter.

 

As an amusing coincidence I was doing a search on Agrippa today and discovered that on this libraries site, Cornelius Agrippa was the "Scientist of the Day".  I don't know if the link will change tomorrow, but I did want let everyone know that he was so honored today.

1. Linda Hall Library
2. News
3. Scientist of the Day
4. Cornelius Agrippa

ZYD

 

[Cobie]

.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Cobie

[Zhongyongdaoist]

2 minutes ago, Cobie said:

 

Not “today”, CORNELIUS AGRIPPA was on SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

The most recent one I saw was DECEMBER 15, 2023, JOHN WILLIAM SALTER, an English paleontologist.

 

Sorry, but I was in a rush and the matter is basically trivia, and not something to which I devote the type of time and energy which I put into my serious posts.  So on his 431st, Birthday Cornelius Agrippa was scientist of the day.

 

ZYD