Small Infinities (about the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton)

Small Infinities ( Play about Sir Isaac Newton)

The play is written by Prof. Alan Brody, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is directed by Prakash Belawadi staged in Bangalore last week.

“You can’t be as successful as me Isaac, because you do not know how to drink coffee!” said Robert Hooke in the play Small infinities by Alan Brody. Small Infinities explores the life and paradox of Sir Isaac Newton. Newton is the father of modern science, yet he was also an alchemist and believed he had unearthed textual revelations in the scriptures - a genius with a medieval mind in the beginning of the modern age. Many of us are under the impression that Newton sat under the apple tree and in a flash he gave his theory of gravitation. In fact, there is much more to his life than apples and gravity.

The play portrays the intelligent and secretive mind of Newton beautifully. It explores his obsession with finding the unity of Gods design through science, alchemy, the Bible - and the human relationships he destroys in his quest. In the end he believes he has become the assassin of God and a failure.

Although, it is not possible to fathom such large life in a matter of a couple of hours, Prof. Brody managed to peep into Newton’s relationships with Nicholas ( a mathematician who wanted to be his assistant), the Royal astronomer Flamsteed( who was providing him data to support the works on gravity), Edmond Halley( the man behind publishing Newton’s work) and Robert Hooke ( who was an eminent scientist himself). The story develops with all these characters revolving around secretive Isaac who thought that he was God’s messenger for exploring the universe scientifically.

The play also puts some light on the 17^th century England where plague, great fire of London and Shakespeare’s plays. The play also portrays a very bright and logical mind of Newton that could not gel with his contemporaries with the fear that people will take his work and the credit for solving the puzzles of the universe. Hooke probably realized this weakness of Newton much early and therefore told him that he should share his ideas with others over coffee. Isaac’s search for truth and a hidden longing for a relationship with his beautiful cousin and wanting recognition were portrayed effectively. In the present day science, nobody can work alone. In those days, it was hard for Newton to trust others. However, in the end he realizes that without Halley, Hooke, Flamsteed, Kepler and many more he would not have been able to publish any of his works. And we would not have had to study Newton's laws of Motion.

About the stage set up: The screen behind could be used much more effectively to show abstract concepts like parabolic orbits, comet’s tail going opposite to the direction of the sun or the dispersion of light through prism. This can make the play simple for school children to appreciate.

Students of Science can learn a lot through these plays and the message for everyone else:

Though "An apple a day keeps a doctor away!" one cannot forget that "A lot can happen over coffee!"