(1642-1727) Arguably the greatest scientist ever
Many know Isaac Newton as a famed scientist and mathematician who revolutionized numerous fields.
But few know much about the man himself—a man whose eccentricities and peculiarities distinguished him as much as his work and findings in fields such as physics and mathematics.
Despite his immense fame, Newton was quite antisocial, and at times, hardly even bothered to ever share his findings with the public.
Paranoid of others, short-tempered, and often very eager to retreat into his own world, Newton seldom had friends, almost never went near a woman, usually ended up feuding with everyone he ever became even somewhat close to, hardly spoke to anyone at all at certain points in his life, and almost never even corresponded with other scientists.
Despite his numerous accomplishments, he was not popular among the scientific community, so much so that his lectures often attracted no people whatsoever—and oddly enough, in such cases, Newton usually went on with the lectures anyways, giving them to an empty room.
But perhaps his most marked characteristic of all was his obsession with his work—an obsession so strong and consuming that it often caused him to forget to eat for long stretches of time.
And as a scientist, Newton did not confine himself to conventional science, but also focused on such sciences as occultism and alchemy.
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due to patient attention more than to any other talent.
The existence of a Being endowed with intelligence and wisdom is a necessary inference from a study of celestial mechanics.
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smooth pebble, or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.