Joshua Nair
A chilling letter from Isaac Newton has revealed a prediction for the end of the world and you'd best brace yourself because it's not too far off.
Doomsday, the apocalypse, Judgement Day, whatever you want to call it - the end of the world is coming, but nobody really knows when.
Well, unless you're a pioneering 17th century polymath, that is.
We've had the Mayans predict that the world would cease to exist beyond 21 December 2012, but after making it out the other end very much alive, we haven't really had another solid 'doomsday'.
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Until now that is, from the bloke watched an apple fall from a tree and established the laws of gravity - Sir Isaac Newton.
The legendary mathematician and scientist scrawled a letter in 1704, revealing the year in which he reckoned our planet would cease to exist.
I mean, the bloke was insane at science and maths so he must know what he's talking about, right?
In the letter, he theorised about the end of the world, with his 18th century ideas being based on biblical texts that reveal the world would reset.
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His prediction fell exactly 1,260 years after the foundation of the Roman Empire, and it would be due to plagues, war and 'the ruin of the wicked nations'.
The British astronomer and author predicted that the world would end in 2060, followed by the return of Jesus Christ and saints to establish a 1,000-year-long peace on our planet.
He came to these conclusions using dates from the Bible's Book of Daniel, according to a professor at the University of King's College in Halifax, Stephen D. Snobelen.
Newton's letter read: “It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner.
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“This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predications fail,” he penned 320 years ago.
Snobelen, a specialist in the history of science and technology, spoke on Newton's theory, saying it would usher in a new era for humanity.
Newton is often called the founder of modern physics, though Professor Snobelen said that he wasn't a scientist, but instead a 'natural philosopher'.
Speaking in 2003 to isaac-newton.org, he explained: “For Newton, there was no impermeable barrier between religion and what we now call science.
“Throughout his long life, Newton labored to discover God’s truth – whether in Nature or Scripture.”
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Newton's infamous letter can be viewed today at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.