M.J. Rose

Even science-minded folks are intrigued by the unknown. Curiosity is the realm of intelligence.

10 Famous Scientists Who Held Surprising Supernatural Beliefs
by Lauren Davis (io9.com)

While we typically hold up scientists, especially those who have made important discoveries, as paragons of rationality, numerous scientists have had fascinations with cryptids, psychic phenomena, and other aspects of the occult. And what some of these particular people believed may surprise you.

1. Sir Isaac Newton and His Belief in the Occult

It may surprise folks who are familiar only with Sir Issac Newton’s mathematical and scientific contributions that Newton was profoundly interested in the occult. Newton was a devout Anglican and an alchemist — neither of which was unusual for an English scientist in the 17th and 18th centuries. (Although many of Newton’s particular religious beliefs, particularly his anti-Trinitarianism, would have been considered heretical at the time.) Still, it’s can be difficult for some modern readers to reconcile Newton’s mathematical descriptions of the universe with his obsessions with Biblical numerology, astrology, and a quest for the Philosopher’s Stone.

Newton made no distinction between the scientific and the mystical. He believed that the world could be understood through mathematics as well as through secrets hidden in the Bible. Based on his interpretations of the Scriptures, he even estimated the date of the end of the world. (He pegged it at around 2060, although he was himself suspicious of people who thought they had the exact year down.) He thought he could divine the size of the Earth by studying the geometry of Solomon’s Temple. He conducted numerous experiments in his quest to create the fabled Philosopher’s Stone. And his work in religion and alchemy was just as detailed as his work in what we would today consider science.

There are some writers who believe that Newton made such powerful contributions to our understanding of the world not in spite of his more mystical beliefs, but because of them. His studies on optics had their foundations in alchemy. In trying to describe the behavior of the cosmos, he was trying to unlock the secrets of God’s mechanisms. He simply used whatever tools he could find: mathematics, the Bible, alchemy, and other “sciences” we would now consider occult. Some of them worked out better than others.

2. Carl Linnaeus’ Mermaids…

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Stewart Brand: The dawn of de-extinction. Are you ready?

“Throughout humankind’s history, we’ve driven species after species extinct: the passenger pigeon, the Eastern mountain lion, the dodo…But now, says Stewart Brand, we have the technology (and the biology) to bring back species that humanity wiped out. So — should we?”

This is one of the more compelling reincarnation stories we’ve encountered. Like many of our favorites, it involves the memories of a young child and includes incredible verifications that defy logic.

Is this child actually remembering a previous life?

10-Year-Old Boy Remembers Past Life as 1930’s Hollywood Actor

by Daniel Nussbaum

“Mom, I have something I need to tell you. I used to be somebody else.”

Those were the words that five-year-old Ryan Hammons told his mother as he was being tucked into bed five years ago, according to NBC News’s Today.

Ryan reportedly began having vivid nightmares at age four. The next year, Ryan told his mother he wanted to “go home” to Hollywood, and related stories about meeting actress Rita Hayworth, taking trips to Paris, and dancing on Broadway. The boy said he had once lived on a street with the word “rock” in it.

“His stories were so detailed and they were so extensive, that it just wasn’t like a child could have made it up,” the boy’s mother, Cyndi Hammons, told Today. “Then we found the picture, and it changed everything.”

Hammons had gone to the library to investigate her son’s claims when she happened upon a book that contained a still photo of two men from the 1932 film Night After Night, starring Mae West.

“She turns to the page in the book, and I say ‘that’s me, that’s who I was,’” now ten-year-old Ryan told Today…”

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