Isaac Newton Wrote a Letter in 1704 and Predicted the Exact Year He Thinks the World Will End

Sir Isaac Newton was on a lifelong quest to discover his own philosophy to describe the world and the universe. He sat at a desk in his home, scribbling about everything from chemistry to God, in tiny shorthand writing in his notebooks. When he passed away in March 1727, he left no will but instead boxfuls of papers, booklets, and diaries which contained millions and millions of words. If all these notes were compiled, they would equate to the content of around 150 novel-length books. Among these notes, there was one letter in which he made a chilling prophecy. Scrawled above a maths calculation on a letter slip dated 1704, is a message that says, Earth will “reset” in 2060, reported Daily Mail.

Newton, in general, is known as the nonpareil of the apple tree anecdote which led him to formulate concepts like motion, calculus, and gravity. But not many people know that apart from his unrivaled scientific brilliance, he was also ardently passionate about subjects like chemistry, religion, and alchemy. He based his 2060 doomsday forecast on a Protestant interpretation of biblical versions of the Apocalypse, such as the “Battle of Armageddon.” Daily Mail reported that Newton used the “day-for-a-year principle,” a method employed at the time to interpret biblical prophecies.

Stephen D. Snobelen, a professor at the University King’s College in Halifax said that Newton used the dates listed in the Bible’s Book of Daniel to calculate the apocalypse, according to The Sun. The prophesized war, according to the outlet, mentions that the war will be fought between the force of good led by God, and the force of evil, led by the kings of the Earth. The force of good will gain victory in this battle and peace will prevail thereafter, with the beginning of a new era. This era would last for about 1000 years, before prompting a total collapse of the earthly world.

“And the days of short-lived Beasts being put for the years of lived [sic] kingdoms, the period of 1260 days if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060,” the pioneer of modern physics wrote and added, "It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner." Commenting on Newton’s backstory, Snobelen reflected that he wasn’t a scientist but a “natural philosopher” who “labored to discover God’s truth, whether in Nature or Scripture.” The professor added that Newton “did not involve the use of anything as complicated as calculus, which he invented, but rather simple arithmetic that could be performed by a child.”

Strangely enough, Newton even questioned his own prediction in another letter that referenced 2060. “This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail,” Newton’s ominous letter read. “Christ comes as a thief in the night, [and] it is not for us to know the times [and] seasons [which] God hath put into his own breast,” wrote Newton. The foreboding letter is currently put on display at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.