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Newton's letter to the Royal Society, "containing his new theory of light and colours," was sent to London on February 6, 1672. This paper can claim a number of "firsts". It was Newton'sinitial publication; it founded the science of spectroscopy, and it marked the beginning of a sound analysis of color phenomena. Yet the paper did not win for Newton the universal applause that he had sought. The Royal Society was bombarded with letters disputing Newton's conclusions.
牛頓給皇家學會的信于1672年2月6日寄往倫敦，信中"闡述了他關于光和色的新理論"。這一論文可以冠以好幾個"第一"：它是牛頓最早出版的著作、創立了光譜學學科、標志著對顏色現象作正確分析的開端。但這一論文并未為牛頓贏得他所企求的普遍贊譽，反駁牛頓結論的信件雪花似地飛向皇家學會。
The controversy had an acid effect on Newton's personality. He vowed that he would publish no further discoveries. As he wrote later to Leibnitz: "I was so persecuted with discussions arising from the publication of my theory of light that I blamed my own imprudence for parting with so substantial a blessing as my quiet to run after a shadow." And yet he did later continue to publish; he wanted the applause of the scientific world. This ambivalence was not overlooked by Newton's enemies. The astronomer John Flamsteed, who broke with Newton, described him as "insidious, ambitious, and excessively covetous of praise, and impatient of contradiction … I believe him to be a good man at the bottom; but, through his nature, suspicious. "
這場爭論對牛頓刺激很大，他的個性都發生了變化。他發誓再也不發表自己的發現了。正如他后來在寫給萊布尼茲的信中所說："我被由發表我關于光的理論而引發的爭議糾纏得心神不寧，怨恨自己太輕率，竟會拋棄自己的安寧這樣實實在在的幸福而去追求虛幻之物。"然而，他后來卻又繼續發表著作，想要得到科學界的贊揚。牛頓的敵人沒有忽略他這一矛盾心態。與牛頓絕了交的天文學家約翰·弗拉姆斯蒂德把他說成是"狡詐、野心勃勃、極端垂涎贊揚，卻又聽不得別人反駁……我認為他基本上算個好人，但本質使然，為人多疑"。
