Sir Isaac Newton, the man whose laws of motion and gravity shaped modern physics, also spent his spare time trying to calculate the end of the world. In 1704, he wrote a letter in which he predicted that the apocalypse would arrive in 2060. The prediction comes with rules: it cannot start before the year 800, and it cannot end before 2060.
The letter, exhibited at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, shows Newton working through the Book of Daniel with the same precision he brought to his scientific work. He treats biblical prophecy as a problem to be solved, not a mystery to be accepted. The result is a set of calculations that are both absurd and oddly compelling.
The Letter From 1704
Newton’s “reckoning” begins with a simple conversion. He takes the “time, times and half a time” from Daniel — 42 months, 1260 days, three years and a half — and sets it against the calendar of the primitive year. Twelve months to a year, 30 days to a month. Then he applies a rule: the days of short-lived beasts stand for the years of lived kingdoms.
He dates the start from the complete conquest of the three kings. He calculates that the period of 1260 days ends, in 2060 AD. He adds a hedge: “it may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner.”
The letter continues with a list of propositions. Each one narrows the window for the end times. Here is how he breaks it down:
- The 2300 prophetick days did not commence before the rise of the little horn of the He Goat.
- Those days did not commence after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans AD 70.
- The time times and half a time did not commence before the year 800 in which the Popes’ supremacy commenced.
- They did not commence after the reign of Gregory the 7th, 1084.
- The 1290 days did not commence before the year 842.
- They did not commence after the reign of Pope Greg. 7th, 1084.
- The difference between the 1290 and 1335 days are a part of the seven weeks.
From those constraints, he draws his conclusion. The 2300 years do not end before 2132 nor after 2370. The time times and half time do not end before 2060 nor after 2344. The 1290 days do not begin before 2090 nor after 1374.
“Though not to assert an answer, should in any event put a stop the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end.”
Newton is not claiming certainty. He is offering a fence — a date beyond which the end cannot reasonably fall. The rest is open territory.
What Newton Actually Believed
Newton did not believe the world would end in the sense of burning up in holy flames. His end times philosophy resembled that of many current-day evangelicals. He predicted a millennium reign and a restored kingdom.
That is a kingdom, not a cataclysm. The world survives the end of days, but it is remade under new rulership. Newton’s apocalypse is a transition, not a termination.
The historian of science Stephen Snobelen has studied these letters in detail. He dates this particular letter “from after 1705,” and thinks “the shaky handwriting suggests a date of composition late in Newton’s life.” The calculations, in other words, come from an older Newton — not the young man who discovered calculus, but the man who had spent decades studying alchemy and theology alongside his physics.
Snobelen’s transcription shows Newton pushing around dates like 2344, 2090, and 2374. None of them stick. Only 2060 stays fixed, because it is the round number that appears in more than one letter.
Why Newton’s Numbers Stick
Newton’s calculation has stuck because it is neat. The number 2060 is round. It is memorable. It is also wrong.
The Millerites and Harold Camping both made similar claims about the end of the world. Their predictions came and went without incident. Newton’s prediction, however, has lasted because it was attached to a man who changed the shape of the physical world. His laws of motion and gravity are taught in schools worldwide.
There is no more reason to credit his prophetic calculations than those of any other apocalyptic sect. The difference is that Newton’s name carries weight. People who would dismiss Camping’s date as nonsense might pause over Newton’s.
The Limits of Newton’s Confidence
Newton’s confidence in his scientific work was total. His confidence in his prophetic work was qualified. He wanted to stop “rash conjectures of fanciful men.” He did not want to be one of them.
But the method is the same. He applies general principles to specific cases. He works from observed data — dates, conquests, papacies — and derives a conclusion. The difference is that his scientific conclusions were verified by experiment. His prophetic conclusions were verified by nothing.
Newton himself saw no contradiction between the two. He believed in magic, divination, astrology, and the search for the Philosopher’s Stone. He also believed in the inductive scientific method. To him, the two were compatible.
To us, they are not. We tend to compartmentalize our beliefs. Scientists study nature. Prophets study revelation. Newton refused to do that. He was both at once.
The Incompatibility
Newton’s legacy is complicated. He founded modern physics. He also wrote treatises on biblical prophecy. He searched for the Philosopher’s Stone. He believed in magic.
These two sides of his life are not separate. They are connected by his method. He approached everything as a problem to be solved. Whether the problem was gravity or Revelation, he treated it the same way.
That is the strange beauty of his work. A man who could calculate the force of an apple falling from a tree could also calculate the date of Armageddon. The same mind produced both. The same mind trusted both.
Newton’s prediction is a reminder that even the smartest people can be wrong. He was wrong about the end of the world. He was right about gravity. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The Final Word
Newton’s prediction is a curiosity. It is also a warning. We are drawn to prophets who promise certainty. We are drawn to numbers that seem final. We are drawn to the idea that history has a shape, and that shape can be calculated.
Newton offered that shape. He gave us a date. He gave us a method. He gave us a warning.
None of it has come true.
Newton’s prediction is a relic. It is a monument to a man who was brilliant and wrong. It is a reminder that even the greatest minds have their limits.
It is also a reminder that the end of the world is not coming in 2060. It is not coming tomorrow. It is not coming this year.
Newton’s prediction is a gift. It reminds us to be humble. It reminds us to be skeptical. It reminds us that the future is not ours to predict.
It is ours to build.
Source material: “In 1704, Isaac Newton Predicted That the World Will End in 2060,” Open Culture.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.