Reply #28: As a chemist, I have always wondered what Newton wrote on Alchemy.

[NNadir]

It is probably the case that by destroying his work on the subject of Alchemy, Newton set back the science of chemistry by decades, if not centuries. He was - with the possible exception of Archimedes -probably the most brilliant analyst of the physical universe of all time, because unlike Einstein and others cited as peers - Newton was analyzing a universe in which almost zero was known.

If Newton was examining the subject of transformations of matter - irrespective of intent - he probably uncovered magnificent details and relationships that were extremely important. Why? Because he was Issac Newton.

I note that Newton had no intention of publishing The Principia. Famously the work was discovered in one of Newton's drawers (in response to an inquiry by Halley on the subject of cometary motion) by Sir Edmund Halley who then prevailed upon Newton to publish it. Had Halley not inquired, and had Newton destroyed that work, physics would have been enormously set back. So, I suspect, was chemistry set back when Newton hid is (al)chemical works.