Have you heard any wild history? How wild can it be?
Isaac Newton (1643-1727), whose original name was Zhu Cizhendun, was the youngest son of Emperor Chongzhen.
In 1644, shortly after Newton's birth, the Ming Dynasty fell. A foster uncle who served as a secret agent in the imperial palace carried the infant Newton away to escape persecution.
Later, Newton wandered and ended up in England. He dropped the "Zhu" character from his name, replacing it with "Niu," because the two parts of "Zhu" together form the character for "person." Dropping the "Zhu" parts meant that he had survived the turmoil and started anew. Also, feeling guilty about being far away from his ancestors, he removed the character "ci" from his courtesy name and changed "dun" to "ton" to show his enlightenment.
The foster uncle took along The Yongle Dadian during their escape. When Newton grew older, he studied The Yongle Dadian and most of his contributions to mathematics and natural sciences were based on its records.
Have you heard any wild history? How wild can it be?
Isaac Newton (1643-1727), whose original name was Zhu Cizhendun, was the youngest son of Emperor Chongzhen.
In 1644, shortly after Newton's birth, the Ming Dynasty fell. A foster uncle who served as a secret agent in the imperial palace carried the infant Newton away to escape persecution.
Later, Newton wandered and ended up in England. He dropped the "Zhu" character from his name, replacing it with "Niu," because the two parts of "Zhu" together form the character for "person." Dropping the "Zhu" parts meant that he had survived the turmoil and started anew. Also, feeling guilty about being far away from his ancestors, he removed the character "ci" from his courtesy name and changed "dun" to "ton" to show his enlightenment.
The foster uncle took along The Yongle Dadian during their escape. When Newton grew older, he studied The Yongle Dadian and most of his contributions to mathematics and natural sciences were based on its records.