Newton and his thumb

In my retired life, I work as a faculty member in an engineering discipline in a private university in Tamil Nadu (if that sounds contradictory, so be it!).  There is a laboratory right next to my space and in it there hangs a large, yet mainly unnoticed, poster giving a profile of Sir Isaac Newton.

In that poster I noticed a quote from the scientist which goes:

“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence”

Having read a number of books on evolution, having voted, rightly or wrongly, in favor of Darwin vis-à-vis Lamarck, I caught on very easily to what could have been the moving force behind Newton making the above statement, before either Lamarck or Darwin have had their say. Of course, there is no way I could be positive as no one is in a position to assert the scientist’s rationale (Googling did not get me far), but I felt quite confident.

That is when the idea struck me – why don’t I promote an essay writing competition among the students of the department, with the pot of gold at the end of rainbow being coupons at the university cafeteria, quite popular with the students, for a modest sum? As I was aware that there can be multiple interpretations and I am in no position to choose from among them, I offered ten prizes (of equal amount; the pie got shared, yet each getting a not insignificant potion) for the better write-ups.

Out of a total pool of about 400 students, less than 30 students responded; perhaps the pot of gold was not big enough, not shiny enough, but that is what I could afford. Yes, this was a personal initiative and I made sure that the department head knew about it (the only matter I engaged the services of the department was in making copies of the announcement of the competition and having them stuck onto the few notice boards in the department; of course, in the interest of weeding out, or at least diluting bias, I enlisted the services of two other professors in evaluating the submissions).

I felt an internal urge to write an essay on the topic and I give below what I wrote.

Explanation-cum-Exposition

On

 “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence”

-Sir Isaac Newton

Why did Isaac Newton refer particularly to the simple human thumb and ignored the more complex organs - say, the eyes, the heart, the kidney, the brain …?

Driven by curiosity, I compared the thumb with the other fingers and realized quickly that the thumb of one hand can meet finger pad to finger pad all the other fingers of the same hand. None of the other four fingers can do this among themselves. So, this is the difference!

But, does this difference in how the thumb operates make any significant difference in how the hand works?  I slowly tried doing everyday things, keeping the thumb away from action. I tried writing with a pen, holding it between the pad of the middle finger and the nail of the index finger. Found it hard. True, it can be done, but it requires special effort and training. It is not “natural” the way we usually write. The same goes for similar simple activities like grasping; picking up small objects; buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe lace.

So, Newton realized correctly that the thumb plays a crucial role in the operation of the hand, while enhancing its capabilities. Our “opposable” thumb rotates singly about an axis and presents both palm and outer sides to us. The other fingers cannot do this. Very few species have this facility, but even they cannot rotate the thumb or reach the other fingers to the same extent, that help in doing so many useful things.

Many other species have eyes, heart and brain but human organs are better. However, the difference is not as significant as between having and not having an “opposable” thumb.

Therefore, Newton must have considered the thumb as a gift of God to mankind.

Mankind with “opposable” thumb exists – ergo God exists!

Let me say emphatically that I did not expect any of the submissions to necessarily follow the idea behind my offering. But, boy, was I unprepared for what I got!

While a few student essays did refer to the special features of the thumb, particularly how it enhances the capabilities of the hand, they focused on the “spiritual” aspect of the quote – the fact that Newton evoked God.

Many quoted, horror of horrors, from the drivel posted on websites of Creation Science and IDiots (Intelligent Design proponents). This, coming from a university whose promoters are staunch Hindus, truly surprised me. Some of them were spot on to make the connection between the special features of the thumb and the evidence of design, though wrong it seems to have turned out in the light of Darwin’s ideas. A few observed that the human thumb is more capable than the thumbs of other species (primates) that too have “opposable” digits. But, many more said that when you stretch out your hand, the thumb directs to the sky, the supposed abode of God; hence, thumbs are special. You take your pick.

As I said earlier, I could not pick the “correct” essay. The metric I used (and requested the other evaluators to use) is a composite of focus (on the human thumb), the flow and clarity of the essay, the strength of the arguments (even wrong they may be; after all Ayn Rand made a career out of advancing wrong positions through specious arguments!), language (not copying from websites!), apparent effort taken and word limit (limited to about 300 words, give or take some). The whole exercise was indeed pleasurable, just the fact I got a window into the minds of the youngsters, what drives them and in which directions.

Yes, I was disappointed that not even 10% of the available pool participated in the competition. But perhaps the next time I float another such competition, it will attract more. Hope springs eternal.

But, there is one person who is unperturbed by the whole affair – Sir Isaac Newton! He rests in piece after having said what he wanted to say!

Raghuram Ekambaram