Isaac Newton’s Death

Older Isaac Newton in 1712

Widely regarded as the greatest mind of his time, the mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton, died in his sleep on March 31, 1727, at the ripe age of 84. Before his death, he started getting unwell, suffering from incontinence at the age of 80 due to his weak bladder. He needed to change his diet due to this, eating mostly vegetables and broth since then. Aside from incontinence, he also suffered from gout and bladder stones. The pain from the latter was too much for him that he lost consciousness and eventually died.

Newton left a long legacy in his death. After his monumental achievements in science, eminent men offered him praise for his passing. Joseph-Louis Lagrange, a mathematician, declared that “Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed.” The poet, Alexander Pope, wrote a couplet meant to be Newton’s epitaph:

Nature, and Nature’s laws lay hid in night.

God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

Newton’s funeral was attended by England’s distinguished figures, and he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey in London, England.