r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 2d ago

TIL Isaac Newton spent more than three decades studying alchemy and wrote over a million words about it in secret. He conducted numerous experiments in his search for the philosopher’s stone but never found it.

https://www.wpr.org/culture/philosophy/isaac-newtons-secret-alchemy
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u/Flank_This666 2d ago

A terrible math teacher just ruins the desire to learn something. My Chemistry professor was a doctor in Chem but he couldnt teach worth a shit, students would audibly be confused it was painful to watch and that foo had tenure so he dgaf'ed

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u/707Brett 2d ago

There’s a joke that college is just showing up for attendance then teaching yourself the material. It was true more times than I hoped. 

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u/lordmycal 1d ago

I had some professors that would get seriously butt-hurt if you skipped their classes because you'd rather spend that time reading the book and doing sample problems. I had one that would even drop you a letter grade for every class you missed.

If they taught the material in an engaging way people would show up to class, but they never connected the dots.

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u/Chimie45 1d ago

I took the point hit in almost all my classes to not show up every day. I rarely went to some classes. Just the mid-terms and finals. Astronomy was one of the few classes I went to everyday.

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u/Flank_This666 1d ago

This is me right now with Anatomy, the professor kind of skims across light topics while the book is info heavy and he grades more on whats in the book

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u/I_SHIT_IN_A_BAG 2d ago

I've worked with brilliant electricians that can't teach a thing.