A twitter post by Neil deGrasse Tyson, claiming that Newton “discovered the laws of gravity, optics, and he invented calculus” while staying at home to avoid the 1665 plague.

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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 04-Jan-2024 18:59:17 UTC Robert McNees

   in reply to

   During the Covid lockdowns, a number of popular sci-comm figures claimed that Newton made incredible discoveries and advances while stuck at his mother’s country home during England’s bubonic “Great Plague” that began in 1665.

   I mean, if Newton just needed some social distancing and a sweeping plague to understand gravity, surely we could take advantage of the Covid lockdowns to do something magnificent. Right?

   No. That’s not how any of that happened!