Newton's Brain - Jakub Arbes

In this story, two ideas coincide: the brain of the genius and trickster apparently dies at the Battle of Königgrätz in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. However, he has not died and instead is able to procure a replacement for his injured brain, the brain of Isaac Newton. Subsequently, he uses Newton's knowledge of the laws of nature to overcome them, using a strange device to travel faster than the speed of light, and also to photograph the past. Newton's Brain was published 18 years before H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, and has been considered a strong influence on Wells.