In 1331 AD, the first instances of the second plague pandemic began somewhere in Central Asia.

Within a few years, the disease appeared in the region around the Black Sea, and from there it spread throughout Asia and Europe.

It created a level of devastation previously unknown in human

history, killing something like 20% of the world's population globally. And of course, in urban areas,

the devastation was even more severe, and in some cities, more than half the inhabitants succumbed

to the disease. Over time, the disease became endemic, and for the next 400 years, outbreaks would

recur sporadically.

The last great outbreak of plague in London, England, occurred in 1666.

In 18 months, it killed around 100,000 people, over a quarter of the city's population.

Quickly, London depopulated as people fled for the less crowded countryside.

So did other cities in large towns, and about 50 miles away, the University of Cambridge shut its doors and told its

students to go home for their own safety. This must have been particularly troubling for the

23-year-old Isaac Newton, a known hypochondriac. He had just finished his undergraduate studies

when the news reached Cambridge

that the plague was spreading and he would need to travel the 60 miles to his home in Wollsthorpe,

Lincolnshire. Now in 2025, I think we are uniquely positioned to understand at least somewhat

what was going through his head, having recently lived through a pandemic ourselves.

Of course, COVID was not nearly as deadly as the plague, but many of us recently had this experience of being forced to retreat from our normal daily lives and live out a life of

isolation at home. It was the course of time of fear and confusion, but for many, it might

have also been exciting. It was a chance to block out distractions and focus on

whatever you wanted to do, just like it was for us. This is certainly how Isaac Newton approached it.

In the idyllic setting of his family estate, Newton had the time and space he needed to tackle

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