1704 letter from Isaac Newton predicted when world will end
14 Feb 2025

Sir Isaac Newton, the legendary scientist who laid down the law of gravity, had predicted the world would end in 2060.

He made the prediction in a letter he wrote in 1704.

Newton used his close study of the Bible and other religious books to determine a specific date when the world as we know it would end and be replaced by a "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth.

Newton's prediction based on biblical texts
Prediction details

He believed that in the middle of the 21st century, Christ would return and reign for a millennium, while the Jewish people would establish "a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom" in Israel.

Newton's prediction of the world's end stemmed from biblical texts, especially from the Book of Daniel.

He calculated that the world would reset 1,260 years after the Holy Roman Empire's foundation.

This reset would be marked by plagues, war and "the ruin of wicked nations."

Newton's letter
Letter

After these events, Newton imagined Christ and saints returning to establish a 1,000-year kingdom of peace on earth.

"It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner," the doomsday letter reads.

"This I mention...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."

Newton saw no barrier between religion and science
Philosophy

Professor Stephen D Snobelen at the University of King's College in Halifax described Newton as a "natural philosopher" rather than a scientist.

He highlighted that for Newton, there was no impermeable barrier between religion and what we now call science.

Throughout his life, Newton sought to discover God's truth in nature and scripture.

The letter containing these predictions is currently displayed at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.