Okay I was going to comment the same thing so I'll just add that he invented the little cat-door that you can install in the bottom of a real door. Which probably allowed his cat to run away as far as possible to avoid trauma while he was sticking needles in his fucking eyesockets.
I was thinking the same thing. It seems Newton did it because he was interested in understanding vision, optics and color. Sticking the needle (or bodkin, as the device was called) into areas around his eyeball allowed him to push on it, distort his vision, and see various effects. A Czech scientist named Purkyne did a similar experiment and saw ‘phosphenes’, those weird fractals you see when you rub your eyes too hard. He later went on to be called one of the founding fathers of neuroscience. Fun articles about both here: (1) https://jsaulburton.com/2014/07/27/isaac-newton-his-eye-and-his-bodkin/; (2) https://psmag.com/social-justice/newtons-needle-scientific-self-experimentation-86583
Ah yes I've heard of Purkyne, didn't know it was connected to this. I'm still not sure any of this justifies sticking a need in your eye (for science!), but to each their own, I suppose o.o
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