# Was Sir Isaac Newton gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965 "2005-12-16T19:53:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/21 "2005-12-17T23:42:07Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Read the OP. That really didn’t help the first time nor did a reread. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/22 "2005-12-18T00:24:34Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > That really didn’t help the first time nor did a reread. It seems to be a pretty clearly written OP; **BrainGlutton** read fiction that portrayed Newton as gay, he was curious if there was a factual basis for that. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/23 "2005-12-18T00:30:30Z")
I could buy that Newton had little or no interest in sex with either gender, finding the nature of matter and energy to be more compelling. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/24 "2005-12-18T01:31:13Z")
This biographer says Newton was brilliant, but also a vindictive, flaming asshole and possibly gay (but who really knows). [Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/073820143X/103-4648663-3135066?v=glance&n=283155) ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/25 "2005-12-18T02:26:53Z")
> [@drmark2000](#): > > He weren’t no fag. He just got stuck on certain matters before women could take hold. One could just as easily say: “He weren’t no str8. He just got stuck on certain matters before men could take hold.” It seems to me that Newton was about as attracted to men as he was to women, and that in both cases it amounted to “myabe a wee bit, but I’m more concerned with other things.” He seems to have left very little evidence that he ever fucked anyone. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/26 "2005-12-18T06:11:44Z")
> [@drmark2000](#): > > He weren’t no fag. He just got stuck on certain matters before women could take hold. Um . . . I’m not sure how to react to this. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/27 "2005-12-18T10:07:21Z")
Well, during his long feud with Leibniz I understand that he did once say “Hey Willi, I got something that _rhymes_ with _monads_ right here, and you can lick 'em!”, but he didn’t mean it literally. Then there was his fourth law of motion, which was “An object with a decent job, well endowed who likes cats, long walks on the beach, gladiatorial role playing and velvet can around 7 of the clock behind the loo of Trinity College bring some of that over here in a westwardly direction. Of fatties, let there be none” was sexually ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/28 "2005-12-18T16:23:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Was Newton gay? To summarise my long post answering this [the last time it was asked](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=327440): the suggestion was probably first widely aired in Frank Manuel’s 1968 Freudian biography in connection with Newton’s turbulent friendship with Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, but even he didn’t regard this as the most plausible explanation. Even if there was a homosexual infatuation on Newton’s part, the relationship probably wasn’t physical. None of the academic biographies of him since have argued that he was gay. Some of his private writings, particularly from his adolescence, indicate that he was far too guilty about sexual thoughts for him to be usefully called asexual. He could however repress these thoughts and so, apparently, remain celibate. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/29 "2005-12-19T02:04:01Z")
> [@flintlock](#): > > He wore wigs and lace. So did Thomas Jefferson, and he was quite the heterosexual horndog. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/30 "2005-12-19T04:32:00Z")
Jefferson was noted for _not_ wearing a wig. ---
**Author:** ![bigveggieboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@bigveggieboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigveggieboy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/31 "2018-01-30T21:53:43Z")
i think he is, just look at his hair 😛 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/32 "2018-01-30T22:01:14Z")
> [@bigveggieboy](#): > > i think he is, just look at his hair 😛 Perhaps he wasn’t gay but maybe a zombie? Zombie Newton (as opposed to the fig variety) would be both scary and highly predictable… ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965/33 "2018-01-30T22:08:36Z")
**Moderator Action** Welcome to the SDMB, **bigveggieboy**. Around here, we tend to refer to very old threads that have been revived as zombies. We also ask that you only revive old threads in the General Questions forum if you have something new or significant to contribute to the discussion. Since this zombie revival adds nothing factually to the original thread, I think that it’s best if we put this poor zombie back into his grave. Thread closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-sir-isaac-newton-gay/335965.md?page=1)