The Cat-Flap Myth...

...laid to rest.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I concluded that Isaac Newton, the man who discovered gravity, invented a revolutionary telescope, wrote the revolutionary 'Principia', invented Calculus, and wrote books on religion to name a few, was not the type who would have owned a dog. It may surprise people to discover that Newton was not a nice person, he is far from the legend of a jolly man who sat under an apple tree, pondering how objects fall, when lo and behold! an apple falls directly on his head, leading him to discover that gravity exists. He was in fact a vicious, violent and manipulative man, who fought tooth and nail to get his own way, and when he was critised, he either thrashed out at his opponent, or shut himself away, refusing to speak to anyone. So it's no surprise to people like me that he would never have been fit to have in his company a pet.

In the explanation of 'Diamond', I found that there was little to no evidence to support the claim that his Pomeranian/Terrier/Spaniel called 'Diamond'/'Tray', knocked over a candle while his/her master went for a walk, setting fire to 20 years worth of work during his time at Cambridge. Not only that, but the story is mixed up between two completely different events at completely different times, all in the name of protecting Newton's temporary insanity. The only protection I see happening is shielding children from the truth about Newton by claiming he was calm and collected when his fictional dog burned his original papers on 'Opticks'.

This myth (which it is a myth) about 'Diamond' the fictional children's story version of Newton's dog, has lead me to prove that he would never have owned a cat either.

Again, there is little proof to suggest that a) Newton invented the cat-flap, and b) that he owned a cat at any other time.

In regards to the cat-flap, a lovely book gives a wonderful explaination as to why Newton never invented the cat-flap in the first place:

Who invented the cat-flap?
It wasn't Sir Isaac Newton.
It's an appealing idea that the father of gravitation, the leading theoretical scientist of his day and arguably the most famous celebrity in Europe at the start of the eighteenth century, invented something as mundane as a cat-flap. Sadly, the evidence doesn't stack up.
To this day, students at Cambridge are told that, while an undergraduate at Trinity College, Isaac Newton cut two holes in the door of his lodgings - a large one for his pet cat and a smaller one for its kittens. The story plays on a classic stereotype, the genius with no common sense - because there's no need for the smaller door. But we know it never happened. Newton's secretary and distant relative Humphrey Newton, was explicit: his master 'kept neither dog nor cat in his chamber'. Also, the doorways of most Cambridge lodgings of the period had a system of double doors. The outer doors were thick and heavy, and usually carved from a large piece of oak. The inner door acted as a draught excluder. Sawing holes through both would have been a major DIY project. And a self-defeating one - turning Newton's rooms into a wind tunnel.

While this explains the lack of a cat-flap at Cambridge, it drives the notion that he must have performed this action at Woolsthorpe, his childhood home where he returned to during the plague years. I asked twice the people at Woolsthorpe, once in person, where the staff member in question told me that all the inside doors were original (and there was no trace of hole in Isaac Newton's old bedroom), and on twitter:

If there is any other evidence to suggest he invented the cat-flap, please let me know, but it is clear he did not.

References:

The Second Book of General Ignorance (QI) page 74