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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.
牛顿给皇家学会的信于1672年2月6日寄往伦敦，信中"阐述了他关于光和色的新理论"。这一论文可以冠以好几个"第一"：它是牛顿最早出版的著作、创立了光谱学学科、标志着对颜色现象作正确分析的开端。但这一论文并未为牛顿赢得他所企求的普遍赞誉，反驳牛顿结论的信件雪花似地飞向皇家学会。
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. "
这场争论对牛顿刺激很大，他的个性都发生了变化。他发誓再也不发表自己的发现了。正如他后来在写给莱布尼兹的信中所说："我被由发表我关于光的理论而引发的争议纠缠得心神不宁，怨恨自己太轻率，竟会抛弃自己的安宁这样实实在在的幸福而去追求虚幻之物。"然而，他后来却又继续发表著作，想要得到科学界的赞扬。牛顿的敌人没有忽略他这一矛盾心态。与牛顿绝了交的天文学家约翰·弗拉姆斯蒂德把他说成是"狡诈、野心勃勃、极端垂涎赞扬，却又听不得别人反驳……我认为他基本上算个好人，但本质使然，为人多疑"。
