Irregular Webcomic!

Archive     Blog     Cast     Forum     RSS     Books!     Poll Results     About     Search     Fan Art     Podcast     More Stuff     Random     Support on Patreon
New comics Mon-Fri; reruns Sat-Sun
<   No. 2684   2010-06-02   >

Comic #2684

1 Isaac Newton: The plan shall be as follows: You distract the Pope, I'll grab Galileo.
2 Edmond Halley: I doubt a better plan has ever been formulated. But how shall I distract the Pope?
3 Isaac Newton: I don't know. Stand in front of him and sin, or something.
4 Edmond Halley: I can act Protestant. Will that do?

First (1) | Previous (2683) | Next (2685) || Latest Rerun (2652) | Latest New (5303)
First 5 | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Latest 5
Scientific Revolution theme: First | Previous | Next | Latest || First 5 | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Latest 5
This strip's permanent URL: http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2684.html
Annotations off: turn on
Annotations on: turn off

I initially wrote Halley's punchline as, "I can be Protestant, will that do?"

But unfortunately that doesn't accord with historical reality, for Edmond Halley was in fact an atheist, and well-known for being so. In fact, despite Halley helping Isaac Newton (a staunch Christian, although with highly unorthodox interpretations of scripture and Christian theology) get his masterwork Principia Mathematica published in 1687, Newton supported the rival David Gregory over Halley for the post of Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford University in 1691, based primarily on Gregory's more palatable religious beliefs.

And, in these times, being a mere atheist was less offensive to the Roman Catholic establishment than being a Protestant, so having Halley declare, "I can be atheist, will that do?" just wouldn't have the same punch. So in the end I settled for having Halley act Protestant, and thereby being maximally offensive to the Pope.

Given how historically accurate the rest of this strip is, I feel good that I got this detail sorted out properly.

LEGO® is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group of companies, which does not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this site.
This material is presented in accordance with the LEGO® Fair Play Guidelines.

My comics: Irregular Webcomic! | Darths & Droids | Eavesdropper | Planet of Hats | The Dinosaur Whiteboard | mezzacotta
My blogs: dangermouse.net (daily updates) | 100 Proofs that the Earth is a Globe (science!) | Carpe DMM (long form posts) | Snot Block & Roll (food reviews)
More comics I host: The Prisoner of Monty Hall | Lightning Made of Owls | Square Root of Minus Garfield | iToons | Comments on a Postcard | Awkward Fumbles
Last Modified: Wednesday, 2 June 2010; 03:11:01 PST.
© 2002-2024 Creative Commons License
This work is copyright and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Licence by David Morgan-Mar. dmm@irregularwebcomic.net