Laboratory Notebook (MS Add.3975)

Isaac Newton's notebooks demonstrate the range of his scientific interests. This notebook which he used between 1669 and 1693 contains notes on optics, precious stones, colours, temperatures, salts, medical matters, alchemy and other subjects, in both English and Latin. On this page Newton describes and illustrates his famous experiment of pressing a bodkin (a blunt needle) against his eyeball and the coloured circles he saw as a result.