Sir Isaac Newton did a lot during his 84 years on the planet, and as well as being credited with discovering calculus and inventing the reflective telescope, he famously developed a theory on that little thing called gravity. More than just being a man of science, Newton fancied himself as something of a Nostradamus successor - predicting a cataclysmic event that could destroy humanity.
As a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Newton did it all. He also put an expiry date on mankind, and worse yet, it's not far away. Stephen Snobelen, the Director of the Newton Project Canada, says that Newton was deeply religious and penciled in the big date due to his beliefs.
"Thus, to use Newton’s own words, he was convinced that ‘the holy Prophecies’ of the Scripture are nothing else than ‘histories of things to come’ (Yahuda MS 1.1, folio 16 recto).
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"At the same time, biblical prophecy is written in highly symbolic language that requires skilled interpretation.
"Newton rose to this challenge as he attempted to discover the future of the world in the words of the prophets."
Newton used calculations that were apparently 'simple arithmetic that could be performed by a child' and were based on specific time periods.
The date to mark in your diary for the end of days is 2060. Newton didn't narrow it down to an individual date or even month, but the 12-month window is when a lot of us will apparently be shuffling off this mortal coil.
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Newton suggested there will be 'wars and cataclysms' in the years running up to 2060, with Snobelen adding: "For Newton, 2060 A.D. would be more like a new beginning. It would be the end of an old age, and the beginning of a new era."
Looking at the state of the world in terms of wars and worries that artificial intelligence will eradicate us in 2024, it sometimes feels like we're already gearing up for Newton's apocalypse.
It sounds like this won't be the end of days for all, more like the kind of disastrous reset we'd see in a rapture movie. Snobelen concluded that Newton expects a second coming of Christ to cue a '1000-year Kingdom of God on Earth': "Citing the prophet Micah, Newton believed this Kingdom would usher in a time of peace and prosperity, a time when people would ‘beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks’ and when ‘nations shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.'" A world where war is eradicated and we live in peace sounds pretty great, but if it comes at the cost of billions of lives and a supposed end of days, is it really that great? Stephen Hawking has given us a little longer by predicting a cataclysm in 2600, but every day, it seems like there's another theory about when the world will end.