Daniel Waterhouse

Overview

Son of Puritan radical Drake Waterhouse. Newton’s roommate at Cambridge. Witness to the Scientific Revolution. Not a genius himself — he knows it — but present at every important moment, connected to everyone who matters. Ancestor of Lawrence Waterhouse in Cryptonomicon.

In the Novel

• Book 1 — Two timelines. In 1713, he’s an old man aboard the Minerva, summoned back to England by Princess Caroline to mediate the Newton-Leibniz calculus dispute. In the past, we follow him from Cambridge in the 1660s (rooming with Newton) through the Royal Society years (Hooke, Wilkins, Pepys, Wren) to London in the 1670s.
• Book 3 — Drawn into the political upheavals of the 1680s. Witnesses the death of Charles II, the reign of James II, the Glorious Revolution. Spends time in the Tower of London. Helps facilitate William of Orange’s invasion.
• His mistress is the actress Tess Charter. He later marries Faith Page, who bears him a son, Godfrey William Waterhouse.

What’s real

Entirely fictional, but embedded so thoroughly in real history he’s almost plausible. His position at Trinity places him alongside Newton. His Royal Society membership gives him access to Hooke, Boyle, Wren. His Puritan background connects him to the real religious upheavals. The Waterhouse family crest links to Ea/Enki, the Sumerian god of water and wisdom.

Key relationships

• Isaac Newton — Roommate, sometime friend, lifelong source of anxiety. Admires the genius, appalled by the cruelty.
• Leibniz — Meets him later, genuinely likes him. This gives Daniel a unique position in the calculus dispute: personal affection for both men.
• Drake Waterhouse — His father. Represents the old Puritan world of faith and apocalyptic expectation.
• John Wilkins — His mentor. Represents the new world of empirical science.
• Enoch Root — The enigmatic figure who summons him back to England in 1713.