o_19kdfsn0q18e31dfraas1esh19vta.pdf

far and above the standards of accuracy employed by his contemporaries. 214 Newton brought this
precision approach to all of his work.
Newton was also secretly obsessed with alchemy, which is sort of like chemistry but with a spiritual
component. To make alchemical discoveries, it wasn't not enough to follow scientific principles—
you also had to be pure of heart. 215 The main goal that Newton worked towards was the creation of
the philosophers' stone, a substance which could turn ordinary metal into pure gold. Here too he
was exacting in his methods. Levenson (2009) observed that, “As measured by the time, effort, and
accuracy of his laboratory trials, Newton was by far the most sophisticated and systematic alchemist
in history. Most other genteel alchemists...relied on assistants to do the messy side of the work.
Newton himself performed the tedious sequences of grinding, mixing, pouring, heating, cooling,
fermenting, distilling, and all the other manipulations required... Above all, he demanded a level of
empirical precision that no other alchemist had ever attempted, and he pursued that experimental
rigor with manic, total devotion.” If you're going to hunt for the philosophers' stone, you might as
well do it right. Sometimes hairsplitting perfectionism is exactly what a task calls for, and no NT
type does it better than the INTJ.
Of course, precision was only one of the factors that contributed to Newton's scientific (and
pseudoscientific) success. He had two other valuable INT traits in abundance: absentmindedness
and workaholism.
Einstein's absentmindedness is legendary, but Newton was much the same. And why not? Both
men were INs. Some might think that absentmindedness is a bad thing (hence Ritalin) but it is a
very necessary trait in the theorist's line of work. A person who is focused on what is going on in
front of their nose is not focusing on how invisible forces control the orbit of Jupiter's moons.
Granted, most INTs are not absorbed by such great thoughts; rather, they are thinking about why
both elves and Vulcans are depicted with pointed ears. But when that concentration is directed
towards scientific questions, it can produce very powerful results. (Or even a great theory about
why elves and Vulcans both have pointed ears.)
Throughout his life, Newton forgot to eat. At Cambridge, he would sit down to dinner, but “...he
has quite neglected to help himself, and the cloth has been taken away before he has eaten
anything.” He would sometimes get dinnertime and church confused, and turn up for dinner in his
church clothing, or else go to the wrong church altogether. Sometimes, instead of going to the
dining hall, he would take a wrong turn and walk out into the street, then realize his error...and head
back to his chamber, forgetting that he had been going to the dining hall at all. INTJs tend to leave
their bodies on autopilot while they devote their mind to more interesting pursuits. Sometimes they
set the destination wrong.
Another story recounts that a maid found Newton standing in the kitchen with a saucepan full of
boiling water. He was holding an egg in bewilderment, and his watch was in the pot. This sounds a
little bit too much like a “story,” but it doesn't change the fact that it's hard to cook when you're an
INT. First you have to remember to put the food in the oven. Then you have to remember to turn
the oven on. Then you have to remember to set the timer. Then you have to remember to turn off
the oven, not just the timer. Then you have to remember to take the food out. There's nothing like
opening the oven door to discover food that is either burnt or raw.
Newton's manner of dress shows that he didn't pay much attention to his grooming: “...if He has not
been minded, [he] would go very carelessly, w th Shooes down at Heels, Stockins unty'd, suplice on,
214 Westfall, 1980
215 White, 1997