Essay on Isaac Newton
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100 Words Essay on Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in England. He was a curious child who loved reading and exploring nature.
Discoveries
Newton is famous for discovering gravity. The story goes that an apple falling from a tree inspired him. He also developed the three laws of motion.
Contributions to Mathematics
Newton invented a type of math called calculus. It helps us understand things that change and is used in many areas today.
Newton died in 1727. His discoveries still impact science and mathematics, making him one of the greatest thinkers in history.
Also check:
- Speech on Isaac Newton
250 Words Essay on Isaac Newton
Early life and education.
Isaac Newton, born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England, emerged as a pivotal figure in scientific revolution. His early education at King’s School, Grantham, laid the foundation for his future endeavors. Newton’s mother’s attempt to make him a farmer was thwarted by his evident intellectual curiosity, leading to his enrollment at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Developments in Mathematics and Physics
Newton’s most significant contributions lie in mathematics and physics. His work ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ is a testament to his genius, introducing the three laws of motion, forming the basis of classical mechanics. Additionally, he developed calculus, a branch of mathematics instrumental in understanding changes in quantities.
Optics and the Theory of Colour
Newton’s work in optics revolutionized understanding of light and colour. His experiments with prisms led to the discovery that white light is a composite of all colors in the spectrum, debunking the then-prevailing belief of color being a mixture of light and darkness.
Legacy and Impact
Newton’s legacy extends beyond his lifetime, with his principles still being fundamental to modern scientific thought. His laws of motion and universal gravitation shaped our understanding of the physical world, while his work in optics and mathematics has far-reaching implications in various scientific fields.
In conclusion, Isaac Newton’s contributions to science and mathematics have been monumental, influencing centuries of scientific thought and discovery. His life and work continue to inspire curiosity and innovation in the quest for knowledge.
500 Words Essay on Isaac Newton
Introduction.
Isaac Newton, born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England, was a renowned physicist and mathematician. He is often hailed as one of the most influential scientists of all time. His contributions to the fields of physics, mathematics, and astronomy have had a profound impact on our understanding of the natural world.
Newton’s Early Life and Education
Newton was born prematurely and was not expected to survive. His father had died three months before his birth, leaving him with his mother, who later remarried. Newton was then raised by his grandmother. Despite these early hardships, Newton’s intellectual curiosity led him to the University of Cambridge, where he studied from 1661 to 1665.
The Birth of Newtonian Physics
During his time at Cambridge, Newton developed the foundations of calculus, though it wasn’t until later that he fully developed and published his work. The university closed in 1665 due to the Great Plague, and Newton returned home. It was during this period, known as his annus mirabilis, or “year of wonders”, that he made some of his most significant discoveries.
Among these was the law of universal gravitation, inspired reportedly by the fall of an apple from a tree. He proposed that every particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This was a revolutionary concept that provided a unified explanation for terrestrial and celestial mechanics.
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
In his work “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica”, Newton outlined his three laws of motion. The first law, often called the law of inertia, states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. The second law established the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. The third law, known as the action-reaction law, states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Contributions to Optics
Newton’s contributions were not limited to physics and mathematics. He also made significant advancements in the field of optics. His experiments with prisms led to the discovery that white light is composed of a spectrum of colors, which he described in his work “Opticks”. He also built the first practical reflecting telescope, known as the Newtonian telescope.
Isaac Newton’s contributions to science have shaped our understanding of the physical world. His laws of motion and universal gravitation laid the groundwork for classical physics, and his work in optics expanded our understanding of light and color. Despite personal hardships and the tumultuous times in which he lived, Newton’s relentless curiosity and dedication to scientific exploration cemented his place in history as one of the greatest scientists of all time. His legacy continues to inspire scientists and researchers, reminding us of the boundless possibilities of human intellect.
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The essay was so perfect but the date of birth is not same in 1st and 3rd essay.so may be the date of birth is wrong at in one essay.
Fixed, thanks.
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Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician famous for his laws of physics. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century.
(1643-1727)
Who Was Isaac Newton?
In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) , which has been called the single most influential book on physics. In 1705, he was knighted by Queen Anne of England, making him Sir Isaac Newton.
Early Life and Family
Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. Using the "old" Julian calendar, Newton's birth date is sometimes displayed as December 25, 1642.
Newton was the only son of a prosperous local farmer, also named Isaac, who died three months before he was born. A premature baby born tiny and weak, Newton was not expected to survive.
When he was 3 years old, his mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, remarried a well-to-do minister, Barnabas Smith, and went to live with him, leaving young Newton with his maternal grandmother.
The experience left an indelible imprint on Newton, later manifesting itself as an acute sense of insecurity. He anxiously obsessed over his published work, defending its merits with irrational behavior.
At age 12, Newton was reunited with his mother after her second husband died. She brought along her three small children from her second marriage.
Isaac Newton's Education
Newton was enrolled at the King's School in Grantham, a town in Lincolnshire, where he lodged with a local apothecary and was introduced to the fascinating world of chemistry.
His mother pulled him out of school at age 12. Her plan was to make him a farmer and have him tend the farm. Newton failed miserably, as he found farming monotonous. Newton was soon sent back to King's School to finish his basic education.
Perhaps sensing the young man's innate intellectual abilities, his uncle, a graduate of the University of Cambridge's Trinity College , persuaded Newton's mother to have him enter the university. Newton enrolled in a program similar to a work-study in 1661, and subsequently waited on tables and took care of wealthier students' rooms.
Scientific Revolution
When Newton arrived at Cambridge, the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century was already in full force. The heliocentric view of the universe—theorized by astronomers Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler, and later refined by Galileo —was well known in most European academic circles.
Philosopher René Descartes had begun to formulate a new concept of nature as an intricate, impersonal and inert machine. Yet, like most universities in Europe, Cambridge was steeped in Aristotelian philosophy and a view of nature resting on a geocentric view of the universe, dealing with nature in qualitative rather than quantitative terms.
During his first three years at Cambridge, Newton was taught the standard curriculum but was fascinated with the more advanced science. All his spare time was spent reading from the modern philosophers. The result was a less-than-stellar performance, but one that is understandable, given his dual course of study.
It was during this time that Newton kept a second set of notes, entitled "Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae" ("Certain Philosophical Questions"). The "Quaestiones" reveal that Newton had discovered the new concept of nature that provided the framework for the Scientific Revolution. Though Newton graduated without honors or distinctions, his efforts won him the title of scholar and four years of financial support for future education.
In 1665, the bubonic plague that was ravaging Europe had come to Cambridge, forcing the university to close. After a two-year hiatus, Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and was elected a minor fellow at Trinity College, as he was still not considered a standout scholar.
In the ensuing years, his fortune improved. Newton received his Master of Arts degree in 1669, before he was 27. During this time, he came across Nicholas Mercator's published book on methods for dealing with infinite series.
Newton quickly wrote a treatise, De Analysi , expounding his own wider-ranging results. He shared this with friend and mentor Isaac Barrow, but didn't include his name as author.
In June 1669, Barrow shared the unaccredited manuscript with British mathematician John Collins. In August 1669, Barrow identified its author to Collins as "Mr. Newton ... very young ... but of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things."
Newton's work was brought to the attention of the mathematics community for the first time. Shortly afterward, Barrow resigned his Lucasian professorship at Cambridge, and Newton assumed the chair.
Isaac Newton’s Discoveries
Newton made discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics. Newton theorized that white light was a composite of all colors of the spectrum, and that light was composed of particles.
His momentous book on physics, Principia , contains information on nearly all of the essential concepts of physics except energy, ultimately helping him to explain the laws of motion and the theory of gravity. Along with mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Newton is credited for developing essential theories of calculus.
Isaac Newton Inventions
Newton's first major public scientific achievement was designing and constructing a reflecting telescope in 1668. As a professor at Cambridge, Newton was required to deliver an annual course of lectures and chose optics as his initial topic. He used his telescope to study optics and help prove his theory of light and color.
The Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope in 1671, and the organization's interest encouraged Newton to publish his notes on light, optics and color in 1672. These notes were later published as part of Newton's Opticks: Or, A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light .
The Apple Myth
Between 1665 and 1667, Newton returned home from Trinity College to pursue his private study, as school was closed due to the Great Plague. Legend has it that, at this time, Newton experienced his famous inspiration of gravity with the falling apple. According to this common myth, Newton was sitting under an apple tree when a fruit fell and hit him on the head, inspiring him to suddenly come up with the theory of gravity.
While there is no evidence that the apple actually hit Newton on the head, he did see an apple fall from a tree, leading him to wonder why it fell straight down and not at an angle. Consequently, he began exploring the theories of motion and gravity.
It was during this 18-month hiatus as a student that Newton conceived many of his most important insights—including the method of infinitesimal calculus, the foundations for his theory of light and color, and the laws of planetary motion—that eventually led to the publication of his physics book Principia and his theory of gravity.
Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion
In 1687, following 18 months of intense and effectively nonstop work, Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) , most often known as Principia .
Principia is said to be the single most influential book on physics and possibly all of science. Its publication immediately raised Newton to international prominence.
Principia offers an exact quantitative description of bodies in motion, with three basic but important laws of motion:
A stationary body will stay stationary unless an external force is applied to it.
Force is equal to mass times acceleration, and a change in motion (i.e., change in speed) is proportional to the force applied.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Newton and the Theory of Gravity
Newton’s three basic laws of motion outlined in Principia helped him arrive at his theory of gravity. Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that two objects attract each other with a force of gravitational attraction that’s proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
These laws helped explain not only elliptical planetary orbits but nearly every other motion in the universe: how the planets are kept in orbit by the pull of the sun’s gravity; how the moon revolves around Earth and the moons of Jupiter revolve around it; and how comets revolve in elliptical orbits around the sun.
They also allowed him to calculate the mass of each planet, calculate the flattening of the Earth at the poles and the bulge at the equator, and how the gravitational pull of the sun and moon create the Earth’s tides. In Newton's account, gravity kept the universe balanced, made it work, and brought heaven and Earth together in one great equation.
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Isaac Newton & Robert Hooke
Not everyone at the Royal Academy was enthusiastic about Newton’s discoveries in optics and 1672 publication of Opticks: Or, A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light . Among the dissenters was Robert Hooke , one of the original members of the Royal Academy and a scientist who was accomplished in a number of areas, including mechanics and optics.
While Newton theorized that light was composed of particles, Hooke believed it was composed of waves. Hooke quickly condemned Newton's paper in condescending terms, and attacked Newton's methodology and conclusions.
Hooke was not the only one to question Newton's work in optics. Renowned Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens and a number of French Jesuits also raised objections. But because of Hooke's association with the Royal Society and his own work in optics, his criticism stung Newton the worst.
Unable to handle the critique, he went into a rage—a reaction to criticism that was to continue throughout his life. Newton denied Hooke's charge that his theories had any shortcomings and argued the importance of his discoveries to all of science.
In the ensuing months, the exchange between the two men grew more acrimonious, and soon Newton threatened to quit the Royal Society altogether. He remained only when several other members assured him that the Fellows held him in high esteem.
The rivalry between Newton and Hooke would continue for several years thereafter. Then, in 1678, Newton suffered a complete nervous breakdown and the correspondence abruptly ended. The death of his mother the following year caused him to become even more isolated, and for six years he withdrew from intellectual exchange except when others initiated correspondence, which he always kept short.
During his hiatus from public life, Newton returned to his study of gravitation and its effects on the orbits of planets. Ironically, the impetus that put Newton on the right direction in this study came from Robert Hooke.
In a 1679 letter of general correspondence to Royal Society members for contributions, Hooke wrote to Newton and brought up the question of planetary motion, suggesting that a formula involving the inverse squares might explain the attraction between planets and the shape of their orbits.
Subsequent exchanges transpired before Newton quickly broke off the correspondence once again. But Hooke's idea was soon incorporated into Newton's work on planetary motion, and from his notes it appears he had quickly drawn his own conclusions by 1680, though he kept his discoveries to himself.
In early 1684, in a conversation with fellow Royal Society members Christopher Wren and Edmond Halley, Hooke made his case on the proof for planetary motion. Both Wren and Halley thought he was on to something, but pointed out that a mathematical demonstration was needed.
In August 1684, Halley traveled to Cambridge to visit with Newton, who was coming out of his seclusion. Halley idly asked him what shape the orbit of a planet would take if its attraction to the sun followed the inverse square of the distance between them (Hooke's theory).
Newton knew the answer, due to his concentrated work for the past six years, and replied, "An ellipse." Newton claimed to have solved the problem some 18 years prior, during his hiatus from Cambridge and the plague, but he was unable to find his notes. Halley persuaded him to work out the problem mathematically and offered to pay all costs so that the ideas might be published, which it was, in Newton’s Principia .
Upon the publication of the first edition of Principia in 1687, Robert Hooke immediately accused Newton of plagiarism, claiming that he had discovered the theory of inverse squares and that Newton had stolen his work. The charge was unfounded, as most scientists knew, for Hooke had only theorized on the idea and had never brought it to any level of proof.
Newton, however, was furious and strongly defended his discoveries. He withdrew all references to Hooke in his notes and threatened to withdraw from publishing the subsequent edition of Principia altogether.
Halley, who had invested much of himself in Newton's work, tried to make peace between the two men. While Newton begrudgingly agreed to insert a joint acknowledgment of Hooke's work (shared with Wren and Halley) in his discussion of the law of inverse squares, it did nothing to placate Hooke.
As the years went on, Hooke's life began to unravel. His beloved niece and companion died the same year that Principia was published, in 1687. As Newton's reputation and fame grew, Hooke's declined, causing him to become even more bitter and loathsome toward his rival.
To the very end, Hooke took every opportunity he could to offend Newton. Knowing that his rival would soon be elected president of the Royal Society, Hooke refused to retire until the year of his death, in 1703.
Newton and Alchemy
Following the publication of Principia , Newton was ready for a new direction in life. He no longer found contentment in his position at Cambridge and was becoming more involved in other issues.
He helped lead the resistance to King James II's attempts to reinstitute Catholic teaching at Cambridge, and in 1689 he was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament.
While in London, Newton acquainted himself with a broader group of intellectuals and became acquainted with political philosopher John Locke . Though many of the scientists on the continent continued to teach the mechanical world according to Aristotle , a young generation of British scientists became captivated with Newton's new view of the physical world and recognized him as their leader.
One of these admirers was Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, a Swiss mathematician whom Newton befriended while in London.
However, within a few years, Newton fell into another nervous breakdown in 1693. The cause is open to speculation: his disappointment over not being appointed to a higher position by England's new monarchs, William III and Mary II, or the subsequent loss of his friendship with Duillier; exhaustion from being overworked; or perhaps chronic mercury poisoning after decades of alchemical research.
It's difficult to know the exact cause, but evidence suggests that letters written by Newton to several of his London acquaintances and friends, including Duillier, seemed deranged and paranoiac, and accused them of betrayal and conspiracy.
Oddly enough, Newton recovered quickly, wrote letters of apology to friends, and was back to work within a few months. He emerged with all his intellectual facilities intact, but seemed to have lost interest in scientific problems and now favored pursuing prophecy and scripture and the study of alchemy.
While some might see this as work beneath the man who had revolutionized science, it might be more properly attributed to Newton responding to the issues of the time in turbulent 17th century Britain.
Many intellectuals were grappling with the meaning of many different subjects, not least of which were religion, politics and the very purpose of life. Modern science was still so new that no one knew for sure how it measured up against older philosophies.
Gold Standard
In 1696, Newton was able to attain the governmental position he had long sought: warden of the Mint; after acquiring this new title, he permanently moved to London and lived with his niece, Catherine Barton.
Barton was the mistress of Lord Halifax, a high-ranking government official who was instrumental in having Newton promoted, in 1699, to master of the Mint—a position that he would hold until his death.
Not wanting it to be considered a mere honorary position, Newton approached the job in earnest, reforming the currency and severely punishing counterfeiters. As master of the Mint, Newton moved the British currency, the pound sterling, from the silver to the gold standard.
The Royal Society
In 1703, Newton was elected president of the Royal Society upon Robert Hooke's death. However, Newton never seemed to understand the notion of science as a cooperative venture, and his ambition and fierce defense of his own discoveries continued to lead him from one conflict to another with other scientists.
By most accounts, Newton's tenure at the society was tyrannical and autocratic; he was able to control the lives and careers of younger scientists with absolute power.
In 1705, in a controversy that had been brewing for several years, German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz publicly accused Newton of plagiarizing his research, claiming he had discovered infinitesimal calculus several years before the publication of Principia .
In 1712, the Royal Society appointed a committee to investigate the matter. Of course, since Newton was president of the society, he was able to appoint the committee's members and oversee its investigation. Not surprisingly, the committee concluded Newton's priority over the discovery.
That same year, in another of Newton's more flagrant episodes of tyranny, he published without permission the notes of astronomer John Flamsteed. It seems the astronomer had collected a massive body of data from his years at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.
Newton had requested a large volume of Flamsteed's notes for his revisions to Principia . Annoyed when Flamsteed wouldn't provide him with more information as quickly as he wanted it, Newton used his influence as president of the Royal Society to be named the chairman of the body of "visitors" responsible for the Royal Observatory.
He then tried to force the immediate publication of Flamsteed's catalogue of the stars, as well as all of Flamsteed's notes, edited and unedited. To add insult to injury, Newton arranged for Flamsteed's mortal enemy, Edmund Halley, to prepare the notes for press.
Flamsteed was finally able to get a court order forcing Newton to cease his plans for publication and return the notes—one of the few times that Newton was bested by one of his rivals.
Final Years
Toward the end of this life, Newton lived at Cranbury Park, near Winchester, England, with his niece, Catherine (Barton) Conduitt, and her husband, John Conduitt.
By this time, Newton had become one of the most famous men in Europe. His scientific discoveries were unchallenged. He also had become wealthy, investing his sizable income wisely and bestowing sizable gifts to charity.
Despite his fame, Newton's life was far from perfect: He never married or made many friends, and in his later years, a combination of pride, insecurity and side trips on peculiar scientific inquiries led even some of his few friends to worry about his mental stability.
By the time he reached 80 years of age, Newton was experiencing digestion problems and had to drastically change his diet and mobility.
In March 1727, Newton experienced severe pain in his abdomen and blacked out, never to regain consciousness. He died the next day, on March 31, 1727, at the age of 84.
Newton's fame grew even more after his death, as many of his contemporaries proclaimed him the greatest genius who ever lived. Maybe a slight exaggeration, but his discoveries had a large impact on Western thought, leading to comparisons to the likes of Plato , Aristotle and Galileo.
Although his discoveries were among many made during the Scientific Revolution, Newton's universal principles of gravity found no parallels in science at the time.
Of course, Newton was proven wrong on some of his key assumptions. In the 20th century, Albert Einstein would overturn Newton's concept of the universe, stating that space, distance and motion were not absolute but relative and that the universe was more fantastic than Newton had ever conceived.
Newton might not have been surprised: In his later life, when asked for an assessment of his achievements, he replied, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
QUICK FACTS
- Name: Isaac Newton
- Birth Year: 1643
- Birth date: January 4, 1643
- Birth City: Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
- Birth Country: United Kingdom
- Gender: Male
- Best Known For: Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician famous for his laws of physics. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century.
- Science and Medicine
- Technology and Engineering
- Education and Academia
- Astrological Sign: Capricorn
- University of Cambridge, Trinity College
- The King's School
- Interesting Facts
- Isaac Newton helped develop the principles of modern physics, including the laws of motion, and is credited as one of the great minds of the 17th-century Scientific Revolution.
- In 1687, Newton published his most acclaimed work, 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' ('Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'), which has been called the single most influential book on physics.
- Newton's theory of gravity states that two objects attract each other with a force of gravitational attraction that’s proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
- Death Year: 1727
- Death date: March 31, 1727
- Death City: London, England
- Death Country: United Kingdom
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CITATION INFORMATION
- Article Title: Isaac Newton Biography
- Author: Biography.com Editors
- Website Name: The Biography.com website
- Url: https://www.biography.com/scientists/isaac-newton
- Access Date:
- Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
- Last Updated: November 5, 2020
- Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
- I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
- Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.
- If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- It is the perfection of God's works that they are all done with the greatest simplicity.
- Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
- To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.
- I see I have made myself a slave to philosophy.
- The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very conformable to the course of nature, which seems delighted with transmutations.
- To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. Tis much better to do a little with certainty and leave the rest for others that come after, then to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of any thing.
- Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
- Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors.
- Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind that looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago.
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Isaac Newton
By: History.com Editors
Updated: October 16, 2023 | Original: March 10, 2015
Isaac Newton is best know for his theory about the law of gravity, but his “Principia Mathematica” (1686) with its three laws of motion greatly influenced the Enlightenment in Europe. Born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England, Sir Isaac Newton began developing his theories on light, calculus and celestial mechanics while on break from Cambridge University.
Years of research culminated with the 1687 publication of “Principia,” a landmark work that established the universal laws of motion and gravity. Newton’s second major book, “Opticks,” detailed his experiments to determine the properties of light. Also a student of Biblical history and alchemy, the famed scientist served as president of the Royal Society of London and master of England’s Royal Mint until his death in 1727.
Isaac Newton: Early Life and Education
Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The son of a farmer who died three months before he was born, Newton spent most of his early years with his maternal grandmother after his mother remarried. His education was interrupted by a failed attempt to turn him into a farmer, and he attended the King’s School in Grantham before enrolling at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661.
Newton studied a classical curriculum at Cambridge, but he became fascinated by the works of modern philosophers such as René Descartes, even devoting a set of notes to his outside readings he titled “Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae” (“Certain Philosophical Questions”). When the Great Plague shuttered Cambridge in 1665, Newton returned home and began formulating his theories on calculus, light and color, his farm the setting for the supposed falling apple that inspired his work on gravity.
Isaac Newton’s Telescope and Studies on Light
Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and was elected a minor fellow. He constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1668, and the following year he received his Master of Arts degree and took over as Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. Asked to give a demonstration of his telescope to the Royal Society of London in 1671, he was elected to the Royal Society the following year and published his notes on optics for his peers.
Through his experiments with refraction, Newton determined that white light was a composite of all the colors on the spectrum, and he asserted that light was composed of particles instead of waves. His methods drew sharp rebuke from established Society member Robert Hooke, who was unsparing again with Newton’s follow-up paper in 1675.
Known for his temperamental defense of his work, Newton engaged in heated correspondence with Hooke before suffering a nervous breakdown and withdrawing from the public eye in 1678. In the following years, he returned to his earlier studies on the forces governing gravity and dabbled in alchemy.
Isaac Newton and the Law of Gravity
In 1684, English astronomer Edmund Halley paid a visit to the secluded Newton. Upon learning that Newton had mathematically worked out the elliptical paths of celestial bodies, Halley urged him to organize his notes.
The result was the 1687 publication of “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which established the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity. Newton’s three laws of motion state that (1) Every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it; (2) Force equals mass times acceleration: F=MA and (3) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
“Principia” propelled Newton to stardom in intellectual circles, eventually earning universal acclaim as one of the most important works of modern science. His work was a foundational part of the European Enlightenment .
With his newfound influence, Newton opposed the attempts of King James II to reinstitute Catholic teachings at English Universities. King James II was replaced by his protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and Newton was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament in 1689.
Newton moved to London permanently after being named warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, earning a promotion to master of the Mint three years later. Determined to prove his position wasn’t merely symbolic, Newton moved the pound sterling from the silver to the gold standard and sought to punish counterfeiters.
The death of Hooke in 1703 allowed Newton to take over as president of the Royal Society, and the following year he published his second major work, “Opticks.” Composed largely from his earlier notes on the subject, the book detailed Newton’s painstaking experiments with refraction and the color spectrum, closing with his ruminations on such matters as energy and electricity. In 1705, he was knighted by Queen Anne of England.
Isaac Newton: Founder of Calculus?
Around this time, the debate over Newton’s claims to originating the field of calculus exploded into a nasty dispute. Newton had developed his concept of “fluxions” (differentials) in the mid 1660s to account for celestial orbits, though there was no public record of his work.
In the meantime, German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz formulated his own mathematical theories and published them in 1684. As president of the Royal Society, Newton oversaw an investigation that ruled his work to be the founding basis of the field, but the debate continued even after Leibniz’s death in 1716. Researchers later concluded that both men likely arrived at their conclusions independent of one another.
Death of Isaac Newton
Newton was also an ardent student of history and religious doctrines, and his writings on those subjects were compiled into multiple books that were published posthumously. Having never married, Newton spent his later years living with his niece at Cranbury Park near Winchester, England. He died in his sleep on March 31, 1727, and was buried in Westminster Abbey .
A giant even among the brilliant minds that drove the Scientific Revolution, Newton is remembered as a transformative scholar, inventor and writer. He eradicated any doubts about the heliocentric model of the universe by establishing celestial mechanics, his precise methodology giving birth to what is known as the scientific method. Although his theories of space-time and gravity eventually gave way to those of Albert Einstein , his work remains the bedrock on which modern physics was built.
Isaac Newton Quotes
- “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
- “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.”
- “What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.”
- “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.”
- “No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”
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Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist Essay (Biography)
Introduction.
Isaac Newton is one of the greatest historical figures who will remain the annals of history, because of his numerous contributions to different scientific fields such as mathematics and physics. As Hall (Para 1) argues, “Generally, people have always regarded Newton as one of the most influential theorists in the history of science”. Most of his scientific experiments and abstracts laid the foundation of the modern day scientific inventions, as he was able to prove and document different theoretical concepts.
For example, his publication “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” is one of the best scientific reference materials in physics and mathematics. Newton is well remembered for his numerous scientific discoveries such the laws of gravity, differential and integral calculus, the working of a telescope, and the three laws of linear motion. In addition to science, Newton was also very religious, because of the numerous biblical hermeneutics and occult studies that he wrote in his late life (1).
Newton‘s Early Life, Middle and Late Life
Newton’s early life.
Newton was born to Puritan parents Isaac Newton and Hannah Ayscough in 1643 in the county of Lincolnshire, England. He spent most of his childhood days with his grandmother, because his dad had passed away three months before he was born and he could not get along with his stepfather.
As During his early years of school, Newton schooled at the King’s School, Grantham, although it never lasted for long, because the passing away of his stepfather in 1659 forced his family to relocate to Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth; hence, making him to drop out of school. His stay in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth was short-lived, because through the influence of King’s school master Henry Strokes, his mother allowed him to go back to school and finish his studies.
As a result of his exemplary performance in the King’s School, Newton got a chance of joining Trinity College, Cambridge on a sizar basis. In college, Newton was a very hardworking and fast learner, because in addition to reading the normal college curriculum materials that were based on Aristotle’s works, he was interested in reading more philosophical and astronomical works written by other philosophers such as Descartes and astronomers such as Galileo, and Thomas Hobes .
To a large extent, this laid the foundation for his later discoveries, because four years later in 1665, Newton invented the binomial theorem and came up with a mathematical theory, which he later modified to be called the infinitesimal calculus. The closure of Trinity College, Cambridge in the late 1665, because of the plague did not prevent Newton from advancing his studies on his own, as he continued with private studies at home.
Through his private studies Newton was able to discover numerous theories the primary ones being calculus, optics, the foundation of the theory of light and color, and the law of gravitation. Newton was very proud of his advancements, something that was evident in his words “ All this was in the two plague years of 1665 and 1666, for in those days I was in my prime of age for invention, and minded mathematics and philosophy more than at any time since,’ when college reopened (O’Connor and Robertson 1).
Newton’s middle Life
Upon the re-opening of his college in 1667, he was chosen as a minor fellow, and later as senior fellow when he embarked on his masters of Arts degree. In 1969, he was selected to replace Professor Isaac Barrow, who was the outgoing professor of Mathematics.
His appointment gave him more opportunities of improving his early works in optics, which led to the release of his first project paper on the nature of color in 1672, after being elected to the Royal Society. This marked the start of the numerous publications that Newton released later, although he faced numerous challenges and oppositions from one the leading science researchers, Robert Hook. Between 1670 and 1672 Newton also taught optics at Trinity College, Cambridge.
This enabled him to do further researches on the concept of refraction of light using glass prisms leading to his discovery on refraction of light and development of the first Newtonian telescope using mirrors. Although the 1678 emotional breakdown suffered by Newton was a major setback to his work, after recovering, he continued with his early researches which led to the publication of the Principia; a publication that elaborated on the laws of motion and the universal law of gravity.
In addition to this, the publication elaborated on some calculus laws primarily on geometrical analysis and some more explanations of the heliocentric theory of the solar system. This publication was followed by another publication that was the second edition of the Principia in 1713. This publication provided more explanations on the force of gravity and the force which made objects to be attracted to one another (Hatch 1).
Newton’s Late Life
His works in the Principia made Newton to a very respected and famous scientist of the time; hence, the nature of appointments, which he received in his late life. For example, in 1689 he was selected as the parliamentary representative of Cambridge; one of the highest power seats of the time. As if this was not enough, in 1703 Newton become the president of the Royal Society, a seat he maintained until his death and Later on in 1704, Newton released a publication named “Opticks” (Fowler 1).
The dawn of 1690’was a transitional period for Newton, as he ventured into the Bible World. As Hatch (1) argues “during this period Newton ventured into writing religious tracts with literal interpretation of the Bible.” Some of his writings included some works which questioned the reality behind the Trinity and the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended.
Newton’s Scientific Achievements
Newton was one of the most successful historical scientists, because of his numerous contributions to different fields of science such as optics, mathematics, geography, and physics. In mathematics Newton’s discoveries included the binomial theorem of analytical geometry, new methods of solving infinite series in calculus, and the inverse methods of fluxions.
In optic, Newton was one of the first individuals to perform the first experiments on the decomposition of light and the working of the telescope, because of his early discovery on separation of the white light. This enabled Newton to formulate the Corpuscular Light Theory and discover other properties of the white light.
In addition to this, Newton also made numerous discoveries in Physics and mechanics such gravitational force, the centripetal force, the theory of fluids, and the revolution of planetary bodies. Further, Newton was made numerous discoveries in Alchemy and Chemistry, most of which are documented in his numerous publications on different areas of Alchemy, most of which were based on scientific experiments on matter (Hatch 1).
Although in his later life his level of wit his wit reduced, as Hatch (Para 13) argues, “Newton continued to exercise strong influence on the advancement of science, because of his position in the Royal Society. Newton died at the age of eighty fours in 1727, leaving behind a legacy will always remembered in the history of humankind, because of his scientific works.
Works Cited
Fowler, Michael. Isaac Newton: Newton’s life . 2010. Web.
Hall, Alfred. Isaac Newton’s life. Isaac Newton Institute of mathematical Sciences . 2011. Web.
Hatch, Robert. Sir Isaac Newton. 1998. Web.
O ’ Connor, John and Robertson, Ernest. Sir Isaac Newton . 2000. Web.
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IvyPanda. (2023, October 31). Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-biography-of-isaac-newton/
"Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/the-biography-of-isaac-newton/.
IvyPanda . (2023) 'Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist'. 31 October.
IvyPanda . 2023. "Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-biography-of-isaac-newton/.
1. IvyPanda . "Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-biography-of-isaac-newton/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . "Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-biography-of-isaac-newton/.
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Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is best known for having invented the calculus in the mid to late 1660s (most of a decade before Leibniz did so independently, and ultimately more influentially) and for having formulated the theory of universal gravity — the latter in his Principia , the single most important work in the transformation of early modern natural philosophy into modern physical science. Yet he also made major discoveries in optics beginning in the mid-1660s and reaching across four decades; and during the course of his 60 years of intense intellectual activity he put no less effort into chemical and alchemical research and into theology and biblical studies than he put into mathematics and physics. He became a dominant figure in Britain almost immediately following publication of his Principia in 1687, with the consequence that “Newtonianism” of one form or another had become firmly rooted there within the first decade of the eighteenth century. His influence on the continent, however, was delayed by the strong opposition to his theory of gravity expressed by such leading figures as Christiaan Huygens and Leibniz, both of whom saw the theory as invoking an occult power of action at a distance in the absence of Newton's having proposed a contact mechanism by means of which forces of gravity could act. As the promise of the theory of gravity became increasingly substantiated, starting in the late 1730s but especially during the 1740s and 1750s, Newton became an equally dominant figure on the continent, and “Newtonianism,” though perhaps in more guarded forms, flourished there as well. What physics textbooks now refer to as “Newtonian mechanics” and “Newtonian science” consists mostly of results achieved on the continent between 1740 and 1800.
1.1 Newton's Early Years
1.2 newton's years at cambridge prior to principia, 1.3 newton's final years at cambridge, 1.4 newton's years in london and his final years, 2. newton's work and influence, primary sources, secondary sources, other internet resources, related entries, 1. newton's life.
Newton's life naturally divides into four parts: the years before he entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661; his years in Cambridge before the Principia was published in 1687; a period of almost a decade immediately following this publication, marked by the renown it brought him and his increasing disenchantment with Cambridge; and his final three decades in London, for most of which he was Master of the Mint. While he remained intellectually active during his years in London, his legendary advances date almost entirely from his years in Cambridge. Nevertheless, save for his optical papers of the early 1670s and the first edition of the Principia , all his works published before he died fell within his years in London. [ 1 ]
Newton was born into a Puritan family in Woolsthorpe, a small village in Linconshire near Grantham, on 25 December 1642 (old calendar), a few days short of one year after Galileo died. Isaac's father, a farmer, died two months before Isaac was born. When his mother Hannah married the 63 year old Barnabas Smith three years later and moved to her new husband's residence, Isaac was left behind with his maternal grandparents. (Isaac learned to read and write from his maternal grandmother and mother, both of whom, unlike his father, were literate.) Hannah returned to Woolsthorpe with three new children in 1653, after Smith died. Two years later Isaac went to boarding school in Grantham, returning full time to manage the farm, not very successfully, in 1659. Hannah's brother, who had received an M.A. from Cambridge, and the headmaster of the Grantham school then persuaded his mother that Isaac should prepare for the university. After further schooling at Grantham, he entered Trinity College in 1661, somewhat older than most of his classmates.
These years of Newton's youth were the most turbulent in the history of England. The English Civil War had begun in 1642, King Charles was beheaded in 1649, Oliver Cromwell ruled as lord protector from 1653 until he died in 1658, followed by his son Richard from 1658 to 1659, leading to the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. How much the political turmoil of these years affected Newton and his family is unclear, but the effect on Cambridge and other universities was substantial, if only through unshackling them for a period from the control of the Anglican Catholic Church. The return of this control with the restoration was a key factor inducing such figures as Robert Boyle to turn to Charles II for support for what in 1660 emerged as the Royal Society of London. The intellectual world of England at the time Newton matriculated to Cambridge was thus very different from what it was when he was born.
Newton's initial education at Cambridge was classical, focusing (primarily through secondary sources) on Aristotlean rhetoric, logic, ethics, and physics. By 1664, Newton had begun reaching beyond the standard curriculum, reading, for example, the 1656 Latin edition of Descartes's Opera philosophica , which included the Meditations , Discourse on Method , the Dioptrics , and the Principles of Philosophy . By early 1664 he had also begun teaching himself mathematics, taking notes on works by Oughtred, Viète, Wallis, and Descartes — the latter via van Schooten's Latin translation, with commentary, of the Géométrie . Newton spent all but three months from the summer of 1665 until the spring of 1667 at home in Woolsthorpe when the university was closed because of the plague. This period was his so-called annus mirabilis . During it, he made his initial experimental discoveries in optics and developed (independently of Huygens's treatment of 1659) the mathematical theory of uniform circular motion, in the process noting the relationship between the inverse-square and Kepler's rule relating the square of the planetary periods to the cube of their mean distance from the Sun. Even more impressively, by late 1666 he had become de facto the leading mathematician in the world, having extended his earlier examination of cutting-edge problems into the discovery of the calculus, as presented in his tract of October 1666. He returned to Trinity as a Fellow in 1667, where he continued his research in optics, constructing his first reflecting telescope in 1669, and wrote a more extended tract on the calculus “De Analysi per Æquations Numero Terminorum Infinitas” incorporating new work on infinite series. On the basis of this tract Isaac Barrow recommended Newton as his replacement as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position he assumed in October 1669, four and a half years after he had received his Bachelor of Arts.
Over the course of the next fifteen years as Lucasian Professor Newton presented his lectures and carried on research in a variety of areas. By 1671 he had completed most of a treatise length account of the calculus, [ 2 ] which he then found no one would publish. This failure appears to have diverted his interest in mathematics away from the calculus for some time, for the mathematical lectures he registered during this period mostly concern algebra. (During the early 1680s he undertook a critical review of classical texts in geometry, a review that reduced his view of the importance of symbolic mathematics.) His lectures from 1670 to 1672 concerned optics, with a large range of experiments presented in detail. Newton went public with his work in optics in early 1672, submitting material that was read before the Royal Society and then published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . This led to four years of exchanges with various figures who challenged his claims, including both Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens — exchanges that at times exasperated Newton to the point that he chose to withdraw from further public exchanges in natural philosophy. Before he largely isolated himself in the late 1670s, however, he had also engaged in a series of sometimes long exchanges in the mid 1670s, most notably with John Collins (who had a copy of “De Analysi”) and Leibniz, concerning his work on the calculus. So, though they remained unpublished, Newton's advances in mathematics scarcely remained a secret.
This period as Lucasian Professor also marked the beginning of his more private researches in alchemy and theology. Newton purchased chemical apparatus and treatises in alchemy in 1669, with experiments in chemistry extending across this entire period. The issue of the vows Newton might have to take in conjunction with the Lucasian Professorship also appears to have precipitated his study of the doctrine of the Trinity, which opened the way to his questioning the validity of a good deal more doctrine central to the Roman and Anglican Churches.
Newton showed little interest in orbital astronomy during this period until Hooke initiated a brief correspondence with him in an effort to solicit material for the Royal Society at the end of November 1679, shortly after Newton had returned to Cambridge following the death of his mother. Among the several problems Hooke proposed to Newton was the question of the trajectory of a body under an inverse-square central force:
It now remaines to know the proprietys of a curve Line (not circular nor concentricall) made by a centrall attractive power which makes the velocitys of Descent from the tangent Line or equall straight motion at all Distances in a Duplicate proportion to the Distances Reciprocally taken. I doubt not but that by your excellent method you will easily find out what the Curve must be, and it proprietys, and suggest a physicall Reason of this proportion. [ 3 ]
Newton apparently discovered the systematic relationship between conic-section trajectories and inverse-square central forces at the time, but did not communicate it to anyone, and for reasons that remain unclear did not follow up this discovery until Halley, during a visit in the summer of 1684, put the same question to him. His immediate answer was, an ellipse; and when he was unable to produce the paper on which he had made this determination, he agreed to forward an account to Halley in London. Newton fulfilled this commitment in November by sending Halley a nine-folio-page manuscript, “De Motu Corporum in Gyrum” (“On the Motion of Bodies in Orbit”), which was entered into the Register of the Royal Society in early December 1684. The body of this tract consists of ten deduced propositions — three theorems and seven problems — all of which, along with their corollaries, recur in important propositions in the Principia .
Save for a few weeks away from Cambridge, from late 1684 until early 1687, Newton concentrated on lines of research that expanded the short ten-proposition tract into the 500 page Principia , with its 192 derived propositions. Initially the work was to have a two book structure, but Newton subsequently shifted to three books, and replaced the original version of the final book with one more mathematically demanding. The manuscript for Book 1 was sent to London in the spring of 1686, and the manuscripts for Books 2 and 3, in March and April 1687, respectively. The roughly three hundred copies of the Principia came off the press in the summer of 1687, thrusting the 44 year old Newton into the forefront of natural philosophy and forever ending his life of comparative isolation.
The years between the publication of the Principia and Newton's permanent move to London in 1696 were marked by his increasing disenchantment with his situation in Cambridge. In January 1689, following the Glorious Revolution at the end of 1688, he was elected to represent Cambridge University in the Convention Parliament, which he did until January 1690. During this time he formed friendships with John Locke and Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, and in the summer of 1689 he finally met Christiaan Huygens face to face for two extended discussions. Perhaps because of disappointment with Huygens not being convinced by the argument for universal gravity, in the early 1690s Newton initiated a radical rewriting of the Principia . During these same years he wrote (but withheld) his principal treatise in alchemy, Praxis ; he corresponded with Richard Bentley on religion and allowed Locke to read some of his writings on the subject; he once again entered into an effort to put his work on the calculus in a form suitable for publication; and he carried out experiments on diffraction with the intent of completing his Opticks , only to withhold the manuscript from publication because of dissatisfaction with its treatment of diffraction. The radical revision of the Principia became abandoned by 1693, during the middle of which Newton suffered, by his own testimony, what in more recent times would be called a nervous breakdown. In the two years following his recovery that autumn, he continued his experiments in chymistry and he put substantial effort into trying to refine and extend the gravity-based theory of the lunar orbit in the Principia , but with less success than he had hoped.
Throughout these years Newton showed interest in a position of significance in London, but again with less success than he had hoped until he accepted the relatively minor position of Warden of the Mint in early 1696, a position he held until he became Master of the Mint at the end of 1699. He again represented Cambridge University in Parliament for 16 months, beginning in 1701, the year in which he resigned his Fellowship at Trinity College and the Lucasian Professorship. He was elected President of the Royal Society in 1703 and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705.
Newton thus became a figure of imminent authority in London over the rest of his life, in face-to-face contact with individuals of power and importance in ways that he had not known in his Cambridge years. His everyday home life changed no less dramatically when his extraordinarily vivacious teenage niece, Catherine Barton, the daughter of his half-sister Hannah, moved in with him shortly after he moved to London, staying until she married John Conduitt in 1717, and after that remaining in close contact. (It was through her and her husband that Newton's papers came down to posterity.) Catherine was socially prominent among the powerful and celebrated among the literati for the years before she married, and her husband was among the wealthiest men of London.
The London years saw Newton embroiled in some nasty disputes, probably made the worse by the ways in which he took advantage of his position of authority in the Royal Society. In the first years of his Presidency he became involved in a dispute with John Flamsteed in which he and Halley, long ill-disposed toward the Flamsteed, violated the trust of the Royal Astronomer, turning him into a permanent enemy. Ill feelings between Newton and Leibniz had been developing below the surface from even before Huygens had died in 1695, and they finally came to a head in 1710 when John Keill accused Leibniz in the Philosophical Transactions of having plagiarized the calculus from Newton and Leibniz, a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1673, demanded redress from the Society. The Society's 1712 published response was anything but redress. Newton not only was a dominant figure in this response, but then published an outspoken anonymous review of it in 1715 in the Philosophical Transactions . Leibniz and his colleagues on the Continent had never been comfortable with the Principia and its implication of action at a distance. With the priority dispute this attitude turned into one of open hostility toward Newton's theory of gravity — a hostility that was matched in its blindness by the fervor of acceptance of the theory in England. The public elements of the priority dispute had the effect of expanding a schism between Newton and Leibniz into a schism between the English associated with the Royal Society and the group who had been working with Leibniz on the calculus since the 1690s, including most notably Johann Bernoulli, and this schism in turn transformed into one between the conduct of science and mathematics in England versus the Continent that persisted long after Leibniz died in 1716.
Although Newton obviously had far less time available to devote to solitary research during his London years than he had had in Cambridge, he did not entirely cease to be productive. The first (English) edition of his Opticks finally appeared in 1704, appended to which were two mathematical treatises, his first work on the calculus to appear in print. This edition was followed by a Latin edition in 1706 and a second English edition in 1717, each containing important Queries on key topics in natural philosophy beyond those in its predecessor. Other earlier work in mathematics began to appear in print, including a work on algebra, Arithmetica Universalis , in 1707 and “De Analysi” and a tract on finite differences, “Methodis differentialis” in 1711. The second edition of the Principia , on which Newton had begun work at the age of 66 in 1709, was published in 1713, with a third edition in 1726. Though the original plan for a radical restructuring had long been abandoned, the fact that virtually every page of the Principia received some modifications in the second edition shows how carefully Newton, often prodded by his editor Roger Cotes, reconsidered everything in it; and important parts were substantially rewritten not only in response to Continental criticisms, but also because of new data, including data from experiments on resistance forces carried out in London. Focused effort on the third edition began in 1723, when Newton was 80 years old, and while the revisions are far less extensive than in the second edition, it does contain substantive additions and modfications, and it surely has claim to being the edition that represents his most considered views.
Newton died on 20 March 1727 at the age of 84. His contemporaries' conception of him nevertheless continued to expand as a consequence of various posthumous publications, including The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728); the work originally intended to be the last book of the Principia , The System of the World (1728, in both English and Latin); Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733); A Treatise of the Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series (1737); A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews (1737), and Four Letters from Sir Isaac Newton to Doctor Bentley concerning Some Arguments in Proof of a Deity (1756). Even then, however, the works that had been published represented only a limited fraction of the total body of papers that had been left in the hands of Catherine and John Conduitt. The five volume collection of Newton's works edited by Samuel Horsley (1779–85) did not alter this situation. Through the marriage of the Conduitts' daughter Catherine and subsequent inheritance, this body of papers came into the possession of Lord Portsmouth, who agreed in 1872 to allow it to be reviewed by scholars at Cambridge University (John Couch Adams, George Stokes, H. R. Luard, and G. D. Liveing). They issued a catalogue in 1888, and the university then retained all the papers of a scientific character. With the notable exception of W. W. Rouse Ball, little work was done on the scientific papers before World War II. The remaining papers were returned to Lord Portsmouth, and then ultimately sold at auction in 1936 to various parties. Serious scholarly work on them did not get underway until the 1970s, and much remains to be done on them.
Three factors stand in the way of giving an account of Newton's work and influence. First is the contrast between the public Newton, consisting of publications in his lifetime and in the decade or two following his death, and the private Newton, consisting of his unpublished work in math and physics, his efforts in chymistry — that is, the 17th century blend of alchemy and chemistry — and his writings in radical theology — material that has become public mostly since World War II. Only the public Newton influenced the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, yet any account of Newton himself confined to this material can at best be only fragmentary. Second is the contrast, often shocking, between the actual content of Newton's public writings and the positions attributed to him by others, including most importantly his popularizers. The term “Newtonian” refers to several different intellectual strands unfolding in the eighteenth century, some of them tied more closely to Voltaire, Pemberton, and Maclaurin — or for that matter to those who saw themselves as extending his work, such as Clairaut, Euler, d'Alembert, Lagrange, and Laplace — than to Newton himself. Third is the contrast between the enormous range of subjects to which Newton devoted his full concentration at one time or another during the 60 years of his intellectual career — mathematics, optics, mechanics, astronomy, experimental chemistry, alchemy, and theology — and the remarkably little information we have about what drove him or his sense of himself. Biographers and analysts who try to piece together a unified picture of Newton and his intellectual endeavors often end up telling us almost as much about themselves as about Newton.
Compounding the diversity of the subjects to which Newton devoted time are sharp contrasts in his work within each subject. Optics and orbital mechanics both fall under what we now call physics, and even then they were seen as tied to one another, as indicated by Descartes' first work on the subject, Le Monde, ou Traité de la lumierè . Nevertheless, two very different “Newtonian” traditions in physics arose from Newton's Opticks and Principia : from his Opticks a tradition centered on meticulous experimentation and from his Principia a tradition centered on mathematical theory. The most important element common to these two was Newton's deep commitment to having the empirical world serve not only as the ultimate arbiter, but also as the sole basis for adopting provisional theory. Throughout all of this work he displayed distrust of what was then known as the method of hypotheses – putting forward hypotheses that reach beyond all known phenomena and then testing them by deducing observable conclusions from them. Newton insisted instead on having specific phenomena decide each element of theory, with the goal of limiting the provisional aspect of theory as much as possible to the step of inductively generalizing from the specific phenomena. This stance is perhaps best summarized in his fourth Rule of Reasoning, added in the third edition of the Principia , but adopted as early as his Optical Lectures of the 1670s:
In experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction should be taken to be either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions. This rule should be followed so that arguments based on induction may not be nullified by hypotheses.
Such a commitment to empirically driven science was a hallmark of the Royal Society from its very beginnings, and one can find it in the research of Kepler, Galileo, Huygens, and in the experimental efforts of the Royal Academy of Paris. Newton, however, carried this commitment further first by eschewing the method of hypotheses and second by displaying in his Principia and Opticks how rich a set of theoretical results can be secured through well-designed experiments and mathematical theory designed to allow inferences from phenomena. The success of those after him in building on these theoretical results completed the process of transforming natural philosophy into modern empirical science.
Newton's commitment to having phenomena decide the elements of theory required questions to be left open when no available phenomena could decide them. Newton contrasted himself most strongly with Leibniz in this regard at the end of his anonymous review of the Royal Society's report on the priority dispute over the calculus:
It must be allowed that these two Gentlemen differ very much in Philosophy. The one proceeds upon the Evidence arising from Experiments and Phenomena, and stops where such Evidence is wanting; the other is taken up with Hypotheses, and propounds them, not to be examined by Experiments, but to be believed without Examination. The one for want of Experiments to decide the Question, doth not affirm whether the Cause of Gravity be Mechanical or not Mechanical; the other that it is a perpetual Miracle if it be not Mechanical.
Newton could have said much the same about the question of what light consists of, waves or particles, for while he felt that the latter was far more probable, he saw it still not decided by any experiment or phenomenon in his lifetime. Leaving questions about the ultimate cause of gravity and the constitution of light open was the other factor in his work driving a wedge between natural philosophy and empirical science.
The many other areas of Newton's intellectual endeavors made less of a difference to eighteenth century philosophy and science. In mathematics, Newton was the first to develop a full range of algorithms for symbolically determining what we now call integrals and derivatives, but he subsequently became fundamentally opposed to the idea, championed by Leibniz, of transforming mathematics into a discipline grounded in symbol manipulation. Newton thought the only way of rendering limits rigorous lay in extending geometry to incorporate them, a view that went entirely against the tide in the development of mathematics in the eighteenth and nineteenth ceturies. In chemistry Newton conducted a vast array of experiments, but the experimental tradition coming out of his Opticks , and not his experiments in chemistry, lay behind Lavoisier calling himself a Newtonian; indeed, one must wonder whether Lavoisier would even have associated his new form of chemistry with Newton had he been aware of Newton's fascination with writings in the alchemical tradition. And even in theology, there is Newton the anti-Trinitarian mild heretic who was not that much more radical in his departures from Roman and Anglican Christianity than many others at the time, and Newton, the wild religious zealot predicting the end of the Earth, who did not emerge to public view until quite recently.
There is surprisingly little cross-referencing of themes from one area of Newton's endeavors to another. The common element across almost all of them is that of a problem-solver extraordinaire , taking on one problem at a time and staying with it until he had found, usually rather promptly, a solution. All of his technical writings display this, but so too does his unpublished manuscript reconstructing Solomon's Temple from the biblical account of it and his posthumously published Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms in which he attempted to infer from astronomical phenomena the dating of major events in the Old Testament. The Newton one encounters in his writings seems to compartmentalize his interests at any given moment. Whether he had a unified conception of what he was up to in all his intellectual efforts, and if so what this conception might be, has been a continuing source of controversy among Newton scholars.
Of course, were it not for the Principia , there would be no entry at all for Newton in an Encyclopedia of Philosophy. In science, he would have been known only for the contributions he made to optics, which, while notable, were no more so than those made by Huygens and Grimaldi, neither of whom had much impact on philosophy; and in mathematics, his failure to publish would have relegated his work to not much more than a footnote to the achievements of Leibniz and his school. Regardless of which aspect of Newton's endeavors “Newtonian” might be applied to, the word gained its aura from the Principia . But this adds still a further complication, for the Principia itself was substantially different things to different people. The press-run of the first edition (estimated to be around 300) was too small for it to have been read by all that many individuals. The second edition also appeared in two pirated Amsterdam editions, and hence was much more widely available, as was the third edition and its English (and later French) translation. The Principia , however, is not an easy book to read, so one must still ask, even of those who had access to it, whether they read all or only portions of the book and to what extent they grasped the full complexity of what they read. The detailed commentary provided in the three volume Jesuit edition (1739–42) made the work less daunting. But even then the vast majority of those invoking the word “Newtonian” were unlikely to have been much more conversant with the Principia itself than those in the first half of the 20th century who invoked ‘relativity’ were likely to have read Einstein's two special relativity papers of 1905 or his general relativity paper of 1916. An important question to ask of any philosophers commenting on Newton is, what primary sources had they read?
The 1740s witnessed a major transformation in the standing of the science in the Principia . The Principia itself had left a number of loose-ends, most of them detectable by only highly discerning readers. By 1730, however, some of these loose-ends had been cited in Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's elogium for Newton [ 4 ] and in John Machin's appendix to the 1729 English translation of the Principia , raising questions about just how secure Newton's theory of gravity was, empirically. The shift on the continent began in the 1730s when Maupertuis convinced the Royal Academy to conduct expeditions to Lapland and Peru to determine whether Newton's claims about the non-spherical shape of the Earth and the variation of surface gravity with latitude are correct. Several of the loose-ends were successfully resolved during the 1740's through such notable advances beyond the Principia as Clairaut's Théorie de la Figure de la Terre ; the return of the expedition from Peru; d'Alembert's 1749 rigid-body solution for the wobble of the Earth that produces the precession of the equinoxes; Clairaut's 1749 resolution of the factor of 2 discrepancy between theory and observation in the mean motion of the lunar apogee, glossed over by Newton but emphasized by Machin; and the prize-winning first ever successful description of the motion of the Moon by Tobias Mayer in 1753, based on a theory of this motion derived from gravity by Euler in the early 1750s taking advantage of Clairaut's solution for the mean motion of the apogee.
Euler was the central figure in turning the three laws of motion put forward by Newton in the Principia into Newtonian mechanics. These three laws, as Newton formulated them, apply to “point-masses,” a term Euler had put forward in his Mechanica of 1736. Most of the effort of eighteenth century mechanics was devoted to solving problems of the motion of rigid bodies, elastic strings and bodies, and fluids, all of which require principles beyond Newton's three laws. From the 1740s on this led to alternative approaches to formulating a general mechanics, employing such different principles as the conservation of vis viva , the principle of least action, and d'Alembert's principle. The “Newtonian” formulation of a general mechanics sprang from Euler's proposal in 1750 that Newton's second law, in an F=ma formulation that appears nowhere in the Principia , could be applied locally within bodies and fluids to yield differential equations for the motions of bodies, elastic and rigid, and fluids. During the 1750s Euler developed his equations for the motion of fluids, and in the 1760s, his equations of rigid-body motion. What we call Newtonian mechanics was accordingly something for which Euler was more responsible than Newton.
Although some loose-ends continued to defy resolution until much later in the eighteenth century, by the early 1750s Newton's theory of gravity had become the accepted basis for ongoing research among almost everyone working in orbital astronomy. Clairaut's successful prediction of the month of return of Halley's comet at the end of this decade made a larger segment of the educated public aware of the extent to which empirical grounds for doubting Newton's theory of gravity had largely disappeared. Even so, one must still ask of anyone outside active research in gravitational astronomy just how aware they were of the developments from ongoing efforts when they made their various pronouncements about the standing of the science of the Principia among the community of researchers. The naivety of these pronouncements cuts both ways: on the one hand, they often reflected a bloated view of how secure Newton's theory was at the time, and, on the other, they often underestimated how strong the evidence favoring it had become. The upshot is a need to be attentive to the question of what anyone, even including Newton himself, had in mind when they spoke of the science of the Principia .
To view the seventy years of research after Newton died as merely tying up the loose-ends of the Principia or as simply compiling more evidence for his theory of gravity is to miss the whole point. Research predicated on Newton's theory had answered a huge number of questions about the world dating from long before it. The motion of the Moon and the trajectories of comets were two early examples, both of which answered such questions as how one comet differs from another and what details make the Moon's motion so much more complicated than that of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. In the 1770s Laplace had developed a proper theory of the tides, reaching far beyond the suggestions Newton had made in the Principia by including the effects of the Earth's rotation and the non-radial components of the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon, components that dominate the radial component that Newton had singled out. In 1786 Laplace identified a large 900 year fluctuation in the motions of Jupiter and Saturn arising from quite subtle features of their respective orbits. With this discovery, calculation of the motion of the planets from the theory of gravity became the basis for predicting planet positions, with observation serving primarily to identify further forces not yet taken into consideration in the calculation. These advances in our understanding of planetary motion led Laplace to produce the four principal volumes of his Traité de mécanique céleste from 1799 to 1805, a work collecting in one place all the theoretical and empirical results of the research predicated on Newton's Principia . From that time forward, Newtonian science sprang from Laplace's work, not Newton's.
The success of the research in celestial mechanics predicated on the Principia was unprecedented. Nothing of comparable scope and accuracy had ever occurred before in empirical research of any kind. That led to a new philosophical question: what was it about the science of the Principia that enabled it to achieve what it did? Philosophers like Locke and Berkeley began asking this question while Newton was still alive, but it gained increasing force as successes piled on one another over the decades after he died. This question had a practical side, as those working in other fields like chemistry pursued comparable success, and others like Hume and Adam Smith aimed for a science of human affairs. It had, of course, a philosophical side, giving rise to the subdiscipline of philosophy of science, starting with Kant and continuing throughout the nineteenth century as other areas of physical science began showing similar signs of success. The Einsteinian revolution in the beginning of the twentieth century, in which Newtonian theory was shown to hold only as a limiting case of the special and general theories of relativity, added a further twist to the question, for now all the successes of Newtonian science, which still remain in place, have to be seen as predicated on a theory that holds only to high approximation in parochial circumstances.
The extraordinary character of the Principia gave rise to a still continuing tendency to place great weight on everything Newton said. This, however, was, and still is, easy to carry to excess. One need look no further than Book 2 of the Principia to see that Newton had no more claim to being somehow in tune with nature and the truth than any number of his contemporaries. Newton's manuscripts do reveal an exceptional level of attention to detail of phrasing, from which we can rightly conclude that his pronouncements, especially in print, were generally backed by careful, self-critical reflection. But this conclusion does not automatically extend to every statement he ever made. We must constantly be mindful of the possibility of too much weight being placed, then or now, on any pronouncement that stands in relative isolation over his 60 year career; and, to counter the tendency to excess, we should be even more vigilant than usual in not losing sight of the context, circumstantial as well as historical and textual, of both Newton's statements and the eighteenth century reaction to them.
- Westfall, Richard S., 1980, Never At Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton , New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Hall, A. Rupert, 1992 , Isaac Newton: Adventurer in Thought , Oxford: Blackwell.
- Feingold, Mordechai, 2004 , The Newtonian Moment: Isaac Newton and the Making of Modern Culture , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Iliffe, Rob, 2007, Newton: A Very Short Introduction Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Cohen, I. B. and Smith, G. E., 2002, The Cambridge Companion to Newton , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Cohen, I. B. and Westfall, R. S., 1995, Newton: Texts, Backgrounds, and Commentaries , A Norton Critical Edition, New York: Norton.
How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.
- MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
- The Newton Project
- The Newton Project-Canada
- The Chymistry of Isaac Newton , Digital Library at Indiana
Copernicus, Nicolaus | Descartes, René | Kant, Immanuel | Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm | Newton, Isaac: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica | scientific revolutions | trinity | Whewell, William
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- Scientific Methods
- Famous Physicists
- Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton
Apart from discovering the cause of the fall of an apple from a tree, that is, the laws of gravity, Sir Isaac Newton was perhaps one of the most brilliant and greatest physicists of all time. He shaped dramatic and surprising discoveries in the laws of physics that we believe our universe obeys, and hence it changed the way we appreciate and relate to the world around us.
Table of Contents
About sir isaac newton, sir isaac newton’s education, awards and achievements, some achievements of isaac newton in brief.
- Universal Law of Gravitation
Optics and Light
Sir Isaac Newton was born on 4th January 1643 in a small village of England called Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth. He was an English physicist and mathematician, and one of the important thinkers in the Scientific Revolution.
He discovered the phenomenon of white light integrated with colours which further laid the foundation of modern physical optics. His famous three laws of Motion in mechanics and the formulation of the laws of gravitation completely changed the track of physics across the globe. He was the originator of calculus in mathematics. A scientist like him is considered an excellent gift by nature to the world of physics.
Isaac Newton studied at the Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661. At 22 in 1665, a year after beginning his four-year scholarship, Newton finished his first significant discovery in mathematics, where he revealed the generalized binomial theorem. He was bestowed with his B.A. degree in the same year.
Isaac Newton held numerous positions throughout his life. In 1671, he was invited to join the Royal Society of London after developing a new and enhanced version of the reflecting telescope.
He was later elected President of the Royal Society (1703). Sir Isaac Newton ran for a seat in Parliament in 1689. He won the election and became a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University. He was also appointed as a Warden of the Mint in 1969. Due to his exemplary work and dedication to the mint, he was chosen Master of the Mint in 1700. After being knighted in 1705, he was known as “Sir Isaac Newton.”
His mind was ablaze with original ideas. He made significant progress in three distinct fields – with some of the most profound discoveries in:
- Calculus, the mathematics of change, which is vital to our understanding of the world around us
- Optics and the behaviour of light
- He also built the first working reflecting telescope
- He showed that Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are exceptional cases of Newton’s universal gravitation.
Sir Isaac Newton’s Contribution in Calculus
Sir Isaac Newton was the first individual to develop calculus. Modern physics and physical chemistry are almost impossible without calculus, as it is the mathematics of change.
The idea of differentiating calculus into differential calculus, integral calculus and differential equations came from Newton’s fertile mind. Today, most mathematicians give equal credit to Newton and Leibniz for calculus’s discovery.
Law of Universal Gravitation
The famous apple that he saw falling from a tree led him to discover the force of gravitation and its laws. Ultimately, he realised that the pressure causing the apple’s fall is responsible for the moon to orbit the earth, as well as comets and other planets to revolve around the sun. The force can be felt throughout the universe. Hence, Newton called it the Universal Law of Gravitation .
Newton discovered the equation that allows us to compute the force of gravity between two objects.
Newton’s Laws of Motion
- First law of Motion
- Second Law of Motion
- Third law of Motion
Watch the video and learn about the history of the concept of Gravitation
Sir Isaac Newton also accomplished himself in experimental methods and working with equipment. He built the world’s first reflecting telescope . This telescope focuses all the light from a curved mirror. Here are some advantages of reflecting telescopes from optics and light –
- They are inexpensive to make.
- They are easier to make in large sizes, gathering lighter, allowing advanced magnification.
- They don’t suffer focusing issues linked with lenses called chromatic aberration.
Isaac Newton also proved that white light is not a simple phenomenon with the help of a glass prism. He confirmed that it is made up of all of the colours of the rainbow, which could recombine to form white light again.
Watch the video and solve complete NCERT exercise questions in the chapter Gravitation
Frequently Asked Questions
How did newton discover gravity.
Seeing an apple fall from the tree made him think about the forces of nature.
What is Calculus in Mathematics?
Calculus is the study of differentiation and integration. Calculus explains the changes in values, on a small and large scale, related to any function.
Define Reflecting Telescope.
It’s a telescope invented by Newton that uses mirrors to collect and focus the light towards the eyepiece.
Name all the Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion.
Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion are:
- The Law of Ellipses
- The Law of Equal Areas
- The Law of Harmonies
Who discovered Gravity?
Watch the full summary of the chapter gravitation class 9.
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Culture History
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was a renowned English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He is best known for formulating the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. Newton’s contributions laid the foundation for classical mechanics and greatly influenced the scientific revolution.
Early Life and Education
Isaac Newton’s early life and education were marked by adversity, academic prowess, and the pursuit of knowledge. Born prematurely on December 25, 1642, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Newton entered a world where his father had passed away before his birth. His mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, remarried when he was three, leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandmother while she pursued her second marriage. This early familial dynamic played a significant role in shaping Newton’s formative years.
In his early childhood, Newton’s intellectual curiosity began to manifest. His aptitude for learning and mechanical tinkering became evident, hinting at the scientific genius that would later define his legacy. However, financial constraints nearly derailed his education. The death of his stepfather provided a pivotal turning point, allowing Newton’s mother to return to Woolsthorpe and recognize her son’s academic potential.
Newton attended the King’s School in Grantham, where his academic abilities flourished. He displayed an early interest in mechanics and technology, often experimenting with various devices and demonstrating an innate talent for solving mathematical problems. It became apparent that Newton was destined for intellectual pursuits beyond the ordinary.
In 1661, at the age of 18, Newton entered the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College, a decision that would profoundly shape his future. His enrollment was initially as a “subsizar,” a student who performed menial tasks to offset tuition costs. Despite the humble beginnings, Newton’s exceptional academic performance caught the attention of his professors, leading to financial assistance that allowed him to focus on his studies.
At Cambridge, Newton delved into the works of influential thinkers like René Descartes and Galileo Galilei . His rigorous engagement with mathematical and scientific ideas laid the groundwork for the profound contributions he would make to these fields. Newton’s thirst for knowledge and keen intellect set him apart, earning him the distinction of a scholar with unparalleled potential.
While at Cambridge, Newton’s attention gravitated toward mathematics. He immersed himself in the study of Euclidean geometry, algebra, and other mathematical disciplines. His early interest in mechanics also found expression through the study of natural philosophy. This period of intense intellectual exploration laid the foundation for his groundbreaking contributions to various scientific disciplines.
Newton’s academic journey at Cambridge unfolded during a tumultuous period in English history. The mid-17th century witnessed political upheavals, including the English Civil War and the execution of King Charles I. These events had a profound impact on the academic environment, with universities experiencing disruptions and shifts in leadership. Despite these challenges, Newton’s commitment to learning and inquiry remained unwavering.
In 1665, while the university temporarily closed due to the bubonic plague, Newton returned to Woolsthorpe. This period, often referred to as his “annus mirabilis” or “miracle year,” proved to be a watershed moment in his life. During this time of isolation, Newton made groundbreaking discoveries that would reshape the landscape of physics and mathematics.
One of Newton’s major achievements during this period was the development of calculus, a mathematical framework that he used to solve problems related to motion and change. Although contemporaneous with the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the priority dispute over the invention of calculus persisted for years.
Newton also explored optics and conducted experiments with light and prisms, unraveling the mysteries of color. His work in optics culminated in the publication of “Opticks” in 1704, where he presented his theories on the nature of light and color, along with observations on refraction and reflection.
Newton’s return to Cambridge in 1667 marked the beginning of his rise within academic circles. He was appointed as a Fellow of Trinity College and later became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a prestigious position previously held by luminaries like Isaac Barrow. Newton’s lectures and writings during this time showcased his growing influence in the academic community.
Newton’s achievements in mathematics and physics culminated in the publication of the Principia in 1687. This seminal work laid out the laws of motion, the law of universal gravitation, and a comprehensive mathematical framework for understanding the physical world. The Principia cemented Newton’s status as a preeminent figure in science and left an indelible mark on the scientific revolution.
Despite his profound contributions to academia, Newton’s personal life was marked by eccentricities and occasional periods of social withdrawal. His personality, often described as complex, reflected a blend of intense focus on his work and moments of contentious interactions with contemporaries.
Isaac Newton’s early life and education form a narrative of resilience, intellectual curiosity, and a relentless pursuit of knowledge. From his humble beginnings in Woolsthorpe to his groundbreaking discoveries at Cambridge, Newton’s journey laid the groundwork for his enduring legacy as one of the greatest scientists in history. His contributions not only advanced the understanding of the physical world but also set a standard for scientific inquiry that continues to inspire generations of scholars.
Scientific Achievements
Isaac Newton’s scientific achievements are a testament to his genius and profound impact on the foundations of physics, mathematics, and astronomy. His groundbreaking work, particularly detailed in “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (Principia) and “Opticks,” laid the groundwork for classical mechanics, the laws of motion, the law of universal gravitation, and our understanding of optics.
Newton’s most enduring contribution is undoubtedly the formulation of the three laws of motion. Published in the Principia in 1687, these laws provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the motion of objects. The first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net external force. The second law quantifies the relationship between an object’s mass, its acceleration, and the applied force. The third law asserts that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
These laws revolutionized physics, providing a unified description of motion that could explain phenomena ranging from falling apples to planetary orbits. Newton’s laws of motion became foundational principles, shaping the trajectory of classical mechanics and forming the basis for subsequent advancements in the field.
In addition to the laws of motion, Newton’s law of universal gravitation stands as one of the cornerstones of classical physics. Published in the Principia, this law describes the gravitational force between two objects as directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Newton’s law of universal gravitation provided a unified explanation for both terrestrial and celestial phenomena, offering a comprehensive understanding of the forces governing the motion of celestial bodies.
The impact of the law of universal gravitation extended beyond theoretical physics. It enabled accurate predictions of celestial events and orbits, laying the foundation for advancements in celestial mechanics. Newton’s law of gravitation became a fundamental tool for astronomers, allowing them to describe and predict the motions of planets and other celestial bodies with unprecedented accuracy.
Newton’s work in optics, as detailed in “Opticks,” further demonstrated his scientific prowess. In the early 1670s, he conducted experiments with light and prisms, revealing the phenomenon of dispersion where white light could be decomposed into a spectrum of colors. Newton’s experiments and observations laid the groundwork for the understanding of color and light, challenging prevailing theories and offering a new perspective on the nature of optics.
In “Opticks,” published in 1704, Newton presented his theories on the nature of light and color. He proposed that white light is composed of a spectrum of colors and explored the properties of light, including reflection and refraction. Newton’s work in optics significantly advanced our understanding of the behavior of light, influencing subsequent developments in the field and contributing to the wave-particle duality theory that emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Newton’s contributions to mathematics are equally significant, particularly his development of calculus. Although there was a priority dispute with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the invention of calculus, Newton’s work in this field became an essential tool in physics and mathematics. Calculus provided a powerful mathematical framework for describing and analyzing motion, change, and rates of change—fundamental concepts in the study of the physical world.
Newton’s impact on mathematics extended to his development of the binomial theorem and his contributions to the study of infinite series. His work in these areas not only facilitated mathematical calculations but also laid the groundwork for future developments in mathematical analysis.
Beyond his specific scientific contributions, Newton played a crucial role in advancing the scientific method. His emphasis on systematic experimentation, empirical observation, and mathematical analysis became a model for scientific inquiry. The Principia, in particular, exemplified Newton’s commitment to rigorously testing hypotheses and deriving conclusions based on evidence—a methodology that continues to guide scientific research to this day.
In addition to his scientific pursuits, Newton held various public positions, showcasing the practical applications of his scientific insights. He served as a Member of Parliament and later as the Master of the Mint, where he was instrumental in reorganizing the British currency. Newton’s engagement with practical matters demonstrated the real-world impact of scientific thinking and problem-solving.
Despite his towering achievements, Newton’s life was not without challenges and complexities. His personality was marked by periods of intense focus on his work, as well as moments of social withdrawal and conflict with contemporaries. Newton’s private life and interpersonal relationships reflected the intricate interplay of his intellectual pursuits and personal struggles.
Isaac Newton’s scientific achievements form a monumental legacy that continues to shape our understanding of the physical world. His laws of motion, law of universal gravitation, contributions to optics, and development of calculus have left an indelible mark on physics and mathematics. Newton’s work not only advanced scientific knowledge but also set a standard for the scientific method, inspiring generations of researchers to explore the mysteries of the universe with curiosity and rigor.
Principia Mathematica
“Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” commonly known as the Principia Mathematica, is Isaac Newton’s magnum opus, published in 1687. This groundbreaking work laid the foundation for classical mechanics, revolutionizing the scientific understanding of motion, gravity, and celestial mechanics. The Principia is regarded as one of the most influential scientific books ever written and represents a pinnacle in the history of physics .
The Principia consists of three books, each addressing specific aspects of Newton’s comprehensive system of natural philosophy. The first book, titled “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” introduces the three laws of motion—fundamental principles that govern the motion of objects. These laws provided a unified framework for understanding both terrestrial and celestial phenomena, establishing a universal language for describing the dynamics of the physical world.
Newton’s first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by a net external force. The second law relates the force acting on an object to its mass and acceleration, expressing the fundamental relationship between force and motion. The third law asserts that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction—a principle that applies to the interaction of all objects in the universe.
These laws formed the cornerstone of classical mechanics, offering a coherent and systematic explanation for a wide range of physical phenomena. Newton’s mathematical formulation of these laws allowed for precise predictions and calculations, transforming the study of motion into a quantitative science.
The second book of the Principia delves into fluid motion and the resistance of fluids. Newton explored the behavior of fluids, providing insights into the motion of liquids and gases under various conditions. While the second book is less well-known than the first, it demonstrated Newton’s versatility in addressing a diverse array of physical phenomena.
The third book, titled “The System of the World,” is dedicated to celestial mechanics and the law of universal gravitation. In this section, Newton presents his revolutionary theory of gravity, proposing that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. The law of universal gravitation provided a unified explanation for the motion of celestial bodies, reconciling the orbits of planets with a single, underlying principle.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Principia is Newton’s use of mathematical tools, particularly his development of calculus. While the calculus was independently developed by Newton and the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the Principia served as a platform for showcasing the power and utility of this mathematical framework. Newton’s use of calculus enabled him to express his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation in precise mathematical terms, facilitating the quantitative analysis of physical phenomena.
The impact of the Principia extended far beyond the scientific community. Its publication marked a turning point in the history of science, providing a methodical and systematic approach to understanding the natural world. The Principia laid the groundwork for the scientific revolution, emphasizing the importance of empirical observation, experimentation, and mathematical analysis in the pursuit of knowledge.
Newton’s work was met with both admiration and criticism. The clarity and elegance of his explanations, coupled with the predictive power of his laws, garnered widespread acclaim. However, the intricacies of the mathematical reasoning and the novel nature of the ideas presented in the Principia also led to challenges in comprehension and acceptance.
The Principia Mathematica represents a synthesis of Newton’s diverse intellectual pursuits, incorporating his contributions to mathematics, physics, and astronomy into a cohesive and revolutionary system. The impact of the Principia reverberates through the centuries, influencing subsequent generations of scientists and serving as a foundational text for the study of classical mechanics.
Conflict with Leibniz
The conflict between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the invention of calculus is one of the most famous disputes in the history of mathematics. This controversy, often referred to as the “calculus priority dispute,” unfolded in the late 17th century and has left a lasting impact on the perception of both mathematicians’ contributions to this fundamental branch of mathematics.
The origins of the conflict can be traced back to the independent development of calculus by Newton and Leibniz during the same period. Calculus, a mathematical framework for dealing with rates of change and the accumulation of quantities, was a revolutionary development with profound implications for various scientific fields, including physics and engineering.
Isaac Newton began working on the mathematical methods that would later be recognized as calculus in the mid-1660s. His efforts were closely tied to his investigations into physics and celestial mechanics. Newton’s approach involved the method of fluxions, a conceptual framework that dealt with quantities in motion and their rates of change. He used this method to develop a systematic approach to calculus, allowing him to solve problems related to motion, acceleration, and the computation of areas under curves.
Meanwhile, in the late 1670s, the German mathematician and philosopher Leibniz was independently developing his own notation and methods for calculus. Leibniz introduced the integral sign (∫) and the differential notation (dy/dx), which are still used today. Leibniz’s notation and approach were more accessible and user-friendly than Newton’s fluxions, making calculus more widely adoptable.
The controversy ignited in the early 18th century when both Newton and Leibniz published their respective works on calculus. Newton’s major contributions were outlined in his “Method of Fluxions” in the 1670s, but he did not publish this work until much later. On the other hand, Leibniz published his first paper on calculus, “Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis,” in 1684.
The timing of the publications and the differing notations led to a heated dispute over priority. Newton and his followers, including some prominent mathematicians of the time, argued that Newton had developed the calculus first, using the method of fluxions. Newton was vocal about his claim, asserting that Leibniz had taken the ideas from him without proper acknowledgment.
Leibniz, on the other hand, defended his work vigorously. He argued that he had independently developed calculus and that his notation was distinctly different from Newton’s method of fluxions. Leibniz contended that his approach was more intuitive and user-friendly, emphasizing the clarity and simplicity of his notation.
The dispute escalated as supporters on both sides engaged in a war of words through letters, publications, and personal interactions. The scientific community became polarized, with mathematicians taking sides in what became a bitter and public controversy. Notable figures, including the French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, sided with either Newton or Leibniz, further fueling the conflict.
In 1711, the Royal Society formed a committee to investigate the priority dispute. The committee, largely composed of Newton’s supporters, concluded that Newton was the first inventor of calculus. This verdict, however, did not quell the controversy, as Leibniz and his followers rejected the committee’s findings.
The calculus priority dispute had broader implications beyond the personal rivalry between Newton and Leibniz. It divided the mathematical community and hindered collaboration and communication between mathematicians for many years. The dispute also contributed to a delay in the widespread acceptance and dissemination of calculus.
The controversy persisted even after Newton’s death in 1727 and Leibniz’s death in 1716. It wasn’t until the 19th century that a more nuanced and objective assessment of the contributions of Newton and Leibniz to calculus emerged. Mathematicians such as Augustin-Louis Cauchy and Karl Weierstrass recognized the independent significance of both approaches and emphasized the collective nature of mathematical progress.
Ultimately, the dispute over calculus priority was a complex and multifaceted issue. While Newton and Leibniz independently developed calculus, their different notations and approaches reflected distinct mathematical insights. Both mathematicians made profound contributions to the field, and today calculus is often taught using a combination of their notations and methods, acknowledging the richness of both traditions.
In the annals of mathematical history, the calculus priority dispute serves as a cautionary tale about the challenges of determining priority and the importance of fostering a collaborative and open scientific community. It also highlights the human aspect of scientific discovery, where rivalries and personal conflicts can sometimes overshadow the collective progress of knowledge. Despite the contentious history, the legacy of Newton and Leibniz endures in the foundational principles of calculus that continue to shape the landscape of mathematics and science.
Personal Life
Isaac Newton’s personal life was marked by a complex interplay of intellectual brilliance, social isolation, and occasional bouts of eccentric behavior. Born prematurely on December 25, 1642 (Julian calendar), in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Newton faced early challenges that shaped his character and influenced the trajectory of his life.
Newton’s father died before his birth, and his mother remarried when he was three. Raised by his maternal grandmother while his mother pursued her second marriage, Newton’s early years were marked by a sense of familial detachment. This period of relative solitude may have contributed to the development of his introspective and independent nature.
In his formative years, Newton attended the King’s School in Grantham, where he exhibited exceptional academic prowess. His intellectual curiosity and a penchant for mechanical tinkering hinted at the scientific genius that would later define his legacy. Despite these qualities, financial constraints initially threatened to disrupt his education until the death of his stepfather allowed his mother to return to Woolsthorpe, recognizing her son’s academic potential.
Newton’s enrollment at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661 marked the beginning of a new chapter. At Cambridge, he immersed himself in the study of mathematics and natural philosophy, laying the groundwork for the groundbreaking discoveries that would shape his reputation as one of history’s greatest scientists.
While Newton’s professional life flourished, his personal life was characterized by a complex and sometimes tumultuous nature. Known for his intense focus on his work, Newton exhibited periods of social withdrawal and a tendency to immerse himself in solitary pursuits. His dedication to his studies and scientific inquiries often took precedence over social interactions.
Newton’s personality was marked by a combination of brilliance and reticence. He had a reputation for being reserved and introspective, with a meticulous and methodical approach to his work. Newton’s notebooks reveal the depth of his intellectual pursuits, showcasing his rigorous thought processes and commitment to empirical observation.
Despite his academic achievements, Newton faced personal challenges and conflicts. His tenure as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge brought both recognition and demands on his time. Newton’s role in university governance and his involvement in academic disputes occasionally placed him at odds with colleagues, contributing to a complex social dynamic.
In the late 1670s and early 1680s, Newton experienced a period of intense intellectual productivity, known as his “annus mirabilis” or “miracle year.” During this time, he made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics, optics, and physics. Newton’s development of calculus, his work on the nature of light and color, and the formulation of the laws of motion occurred in rapid succession, demonstrating the breadth of his intellectual capabilities.
The publication of the Principia Mathematica in 1687 solidified Newton’s reputation as a preeminent scientist. However, the intense focus on his work and his tendency to withdraw from social engagements sometimes fueled misconceptions about his character. Newton’s dedication to his studies and scientific pursuits often led him to prioritize intellectual endeavors over personal relationships.
In 1696, Newton’s personal life took a different turn when he accepted the position of Warden of the Royal Mint. This marked a transition from his academic career to a role with significant administrative responsibilities. Newton’s tenure at the Mint was characterized by his efforts to combat counterfeiting and reorganize the British currency. His pragmatic approach to these matters demonstrated a practical side of Newton that extended beyond theoretical pursuits.
Newton’s later years included further public service, as he became Master of the Mint in 1699. Despite his involvement in administrative roles, he continued to engage with scientific matters, publishing works on mathematics and pursuing his interests in alchemy and theology.
In his private life, Newton never married and led a largely solitary existence. His personal relationships were limited, and he maintained a degree of distance from others. Newton’s focus on his work, combined with his reserved nature, contributed to the perception of him as a somewhat enigmatic figure.
Newton’s death on March 20, 1727, marked the end of a life characterized by intellectual brilliance and a complex personal journey. His legacy endures in the principles of physics and mathematics that bear his name, but the nuances of his personal life add a layer of humanity to the narrative of a scientific giant. Newton’s story serves as a reminder of the intricate relationship between the personal and professional aspects of a brilliant mind, leaving a lasting imprint on the history of science and the understanding of the universe.
Isaac Newton’s legacy is indelibly imprinted on the fabric of human knowledge, spanning mathematics, physics, astronomy, and the scientific method. His groundbreaking contributions to these fields have left an enduring impact, shaping the way we understand the physical world and influencing subsequent generations of scientists and thinkers.
Newton’s most celebrated work, “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Principia), published in 1687, stands as a monumental achievement in the history of science. In Principia, Newton formulated the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, providing a comprehensive and mathematically rigorous framework for understanding the dynamics of the physical universe. These laws became the cornerstone of classical mechanics, revolutionizing physics and serving as the foundation for subsequent developments in the field.
The laws of motion articulated in the Principia not only explained the motion of objects on Earth but also provided a universal language to describe the orbits of celestial bodies. Newton’s law of universal gravitation demonstrated that the force governing the fall of an apple near his childhood home was the same force dictating the movements of planets in the heavens. This unification of terrestrial and celestial mechanics represented a monumental shift in scientific thinking, fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of physical phenomena.
Newton’s legacy in mathematics is equally profound. His independent development of calculus, although entangled in a contentious priority dispute with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, laid the groundwork for a powerful mathematical tool that transcended disciplinary boundaries. Calculus became an indispensable language for describing change, motion, and rates of change, providing a versatile framework for scientific inquiry.
The mathematical notation introduced by Newton and Leibniz remains in use today, a testament to the enduring legacy of their contributions. The integral sign (∫) and the differential notation (dy/dx), both associated with Leibniz, have become fundamental symbols in mathematical discourse. Newton’s notation for fluxions and the derivative (dy/dt) also persists, reflecting the dual legacy of these mathematical pioneers.
Beyond his specific mathematical and scientific contributions, Newton’s legacy is embedded in the scientific method. His emphasis on empirical observation, systematic experimentation, and the use of mathematics as a tool for understanding the natural world set a standard for scientific inquiry that reverberates through the centuries. The Principia exemplifies this methodical approach, with Newton meticulously deriving conclusions from carefully conducted experiments and observations.
Newton’s commitment to the scientific method had a profound influence on the Enlightenment, a period characterized by a shift towards reason, empirical evidence, and a questioning of traditional authority. His work inspired subsequent generations of scientists to approach problems with a rigorous and systematic mindset, laying the groundwork for the scientific revolution.
The impact of Newton’s ideas extended beyond the scientific community, influencing philosophy, literature, and culture. Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and John Locke embraced Newtonian principles, celebrating the power of reason and the potential for human understanding to unlock the mysteries of the universe. The concept of a clockwork universe governed by precise laws became a metaphor for a rational and orderly cosmos.
Newton’s legacy is also evident in the development of technology and engineering. His laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation provided the theoretical foundation for advancements in mechanics and the design of machinery. The principles outlined in the Principia became instrumental in the Industrial Revolution, fueling innovations in transportation, manufacturing, and engineering.
In addition to his scientific and mathematical pursuits, Newton played a significant role in public life. His tenure at the Royal Mint, where he served as Warden and later as Master, demonstrated his practical skills and contributed to the stabilization of the British currency. Newton’s influence extended to matters of public policy, reflecting a versatility that complemented his academic achievements.
While Newton’s legacy is undeniably monumental, it is essential to acknowledge the complexities of his character. His reserved and sometimes contentious nature, coupled with periods of social withdrawal, added a human dimension to his story. Newton’s personal idiosyncrasies, including his interests in alchemy and theology, underscored the multifaceted nature of his intellectual pursuits.
In the centuries following Newton’s death in 1727, his legacy has continued to evolve. His ideas have withstood the test of time, remaining foundational to the study of physics and mathematics. The principles elucidated in the Principia remain essential tools for scientists and engineers, guiding our exploration of the universe from the smallest particles to the vastness of space.
Newton’s legacy serves as a reminder of the transformative power of human intellect and the enduring impact of a single individual on the trajectory of human knowledge. His contributions transcend disciplinary boundaries, influencing not only the scientific community but also the broader landscape of human thought and endeavor. As we continue to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, we do so standing on the intellectual shoulders of Sir Isaac Newton, whose legacy echoes through the annals of scientific history.
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Essay on Isaac Newton: The Father of Modern Science
- Updated on
- Mar 15, 2024
Did you know Isaac Newton almost gave up on his education before discovering the laws of motion? Born in 1642, Isaac Newton was an English mathematician , physicist , astronomer, and author who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists in history. He is known as the father of modern physics. He made significant contributions to various fields of science and mathematics, and his work laid the foundation for many scientific principles and discoveries. Let’s find out more about Isaac Newton with the essays written below.
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- Isaac Newton was born on 4th January 1643.
- He is famous for discovering the phenomenon of white light integrated with colours which further presented as the foundation of modern physical optics.
- He is known for formulating the three laws of motion and the laws of gravitation which changed the track of physics all across the globe.
- In mathematics, he is known as the originator of calculus.
- He was knighted in 1705 hence, he came to be known as “Sir Isaac Newton”.
Issac Newton was an English scientist who made some groundbreaking discoveries in the field of science and revolutionized physics and mathematics. revolutionized physics and mathematics. He formulated the three laws of motion , defining how objects move and interact with forces. His law of universal gravitation explained planetary motion. Newton independently developed calculus, a fundamental branch of mathematics.
Everybody knows Newton because of the apply story, in which he was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on him. His ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ remains a cornerstone of scientific thought. Newton’s profound insights continue to shape our understanding of the natural world.
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Born in 1642, Isaac Newton is one of the most influential scientists of all time. His groundbreaking contributions in physics, astronomy and mathematics helped reshape the understanding of the natural world. Our science books mention Newton’s three laws of motion which brought a revolution in physics.
- Newton’s first law of motion, also known as the law of inertia, states that an object will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.
- The second law of motion states that an object’s acceleration is produced by a net force that is directly proportional to the net force’s magnitude.
- The third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
All these laws laid the foundation for classical mechanics, revolutionizing the way we comprehend the physical world. He is known as the father of modern physics.
In mathematics, Newton developed calculus independently. His work in calculus was essential for solving complex mathematical problems, making it a cornerstone of modern mathematics and science.
His work ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ was published in 1687, and remains a monumental work that underpins modern science. His profound insights continue to shape our understanding of the universe, making Isaac Newton one of history’s most influential and celebrated scientists.
Isaac Newton was an English scientist who was known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. Thanks to his discoveries of revolutionizing our understanding of the natural world.
One of his well-known discoveries was the three laws of motion, also known as Newton’s three laws of motion.
- The first law, known as the law of inertia, states that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
- The second law quantifies how forces affect an object’s motion, introducing the famous equation F = ma (force equals mass times acceleration).
- The third law, the law of action and reaction, explains that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
These laws provided a comprehensive framework for understanding and predicting the behaviour of physical objects, from the motion of planets to the fall of an apple.
Another groundbreaking achievement of Newton was the discovery of the universal law of gravitation. This law states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
It explained the mechanics of planetary motion and demonstrated that the same laws that govern objects on Earth also apply to celestial bodies, unifying the terrestrial and celestial realms.
In mathematics, Newton independently developed a powerful mathematical tool, called calculus, for analyzing rates of change and solving complex problems. His work laid the groundwork for modern calculus and transformed mathematics, physics, and engineering.
Newton’s magnum opus, “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), published in 1687, is a landmark work that brought together his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.
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Issac Newton was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, alchemist, author and physicist, was known for the discovery of the laws of gravity, and worked on the principles of visible light and the laws of motion.
Newton’s three laws of motion are: first law of motion (law of inertia), which states that an object will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force; The second law of motion states that an object’s acceleration is produced by a net force that is directly proportional to the net force’s magnitude; The third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Issac Newton is known as the father of modern physics and was associated with Cambridge University as a physicist and mathematician.
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With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.
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Isaac Newton
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Essay Topics
State Newton's three laws of motion.
What was Edmund Halley's role in the publication of the Principia ?
Discuss the clash between Newton and Gottfried von Leibniz.
What were Newton's religious beliefs? What was the role of religion in his intellectual pursuits?
What was the Royal Society? Discuss Newton's role in the organization.
Briefly, why is the year 1666 significant for Newton?
What was Newton's theory of light? How did he come to this theory?
Popular pages: Isaac Newton
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Cambridge Digital Library
Newton papers.
Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth." Sir Isaac Newton ( MS Add.3996, 88r ) Trinity College, Cambridge.
Cambridge University Library holds the largest and most important collection of the scientific works of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). They range from his early papers and College notebooks through to the ground-breaking Waste Book and his own annotated copy of the first edition of the Principia . These manuscripts along with those held at Trinity College Cambridge, King’s College Cambridge, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Royal Society and the National Library of Israel have been added to the Unesco Memory of the World Register . As well as University Library material, our collection includes two important items from The Royal Society's collections - a manuscript copy of the Principia and a collection of Newton's correspondence .
Newton was closely associated with Cambridge. He came to the University as a student in 1661, graduating in 1665, and from 1669 to 1701 he held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics. Under the regulations for this Chair, Newton was required to deposit copies of his lectures in the University Library. These, and some correspondence relating to the University, were assigned the classmarks Dd.4.18, Dd.9.46, Dd.9.67, Dd.9.68, and Mm.6.50.
In 1699 Newton was appointed Master of the Mint, and in 1703 he was elected President of the Royal Society, a post he occupied until his death.
After his death, the manuscripts in Newton's possession passed to his niece Catherine and her husband John Conduitt. In 1740 the Conduitts' daughter, also Catherine, married John Wallop, who became Viscount Lymington when his father was created first Earl of Portsmouth. Their son became the second earl and the manuscripts were passed down succeeding generations of the family.
In 1872 the fifth earl passed all the Newton manuscripts he had to the University of Cambridge, where they were assessed and a detailed catalogue made. Based on this catalogue, the earl generously presented all the mathematical and scientific manuscripts to the University, and it is these that form the Library's 'Portsmouth collection' (MSS Add. 3958-Add. 4007).
The remainder of the Newton papers, many concerned with alchemy, theology and chronology, were returned to Lord Portsmouth. They were sold at auction at Sotheby's in London in 1936 and purchased by other libraries and individuals.
In 2000 Cambridge University Library acquired a very important collection of scientific manuscripts from the Earl of Macclesfield, which included a significant number of Isaac Newton's letters and other papers.
A number of videos explaining aspects of Newton's work and manuscripts are available from the Newton Project's YouTube site , a selection of which are presented alongside our manuscripts.
- Overview of Newton Papers held at Cambridge University Library (from Manuscripts Department website)
- History of Isaac Newton's Papers (from Newton Project website)
- Catalogue of the Portsmouth Collection
- Catalogue of the Macclesfield Collection
- Sir Isaac Newton’s Cambridge papers added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register .
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Essay On Isaac Newton
Type of paper: Essay
Topic: Education , Science , Students , Literature , Innovation , Violence , World , Isaac Newton
Published: 11/15/2019
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Isaac Newton was an English scientist who not only studied but made stupendous discoveries in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. However, he is also a well-known astronomer, natural philosopher and theologian. Sir Isaac Newton was born in three months after the death of his father and when his mother remarried he moved to his grandparents. These were the people that raised him from his youth. On reaching the proper age, Newton attended Cambridge University where he stayed until the plague hit. Even though he called his age of the time of the plague "the prime of my age for invention", no natural disaster was able to stop him from his scientific studies.
It was after the university that he began his discoveries connected with optics. His invention of the reflecting telescope in 1668 finally drew the attention of other scientists. Isaac Newton conducted a number of experiments concerning light and its composition. That’s to this hard work he was able to put forward a number of discoveries. He proved that light can be measured by patterns. Moreover, he proved that white light consists of different colored rays which correspond to the colors of the rainbow. Each ray can be defined by the angle through which it is reflected. All this and much more was published in his book “Optics” in 1704.
Isaac Newton is mostly known for what is now something of a legend, a story told to kids. His discovery of the laws of gravity is what he is best known for among people who do not tie their lives with science. The story goes like this. Isaac was allegedly sitting under a tree. All of a sudden an apple fell on his head. A bit stumped at first, our great scientist started to think and analyze. By measuring the force needed to hold the moon in orbit he inevitably understood that there must be some other force, one which has not been studied before. And so there is – the force of gravity.
Isaac Newton was not only a scientist but also a powerful public figure. He was elected member of the parliament for the University of Cambridge to oppose the Kind James II’s attempts to make universities catholic. It should be noted that he also held the post of a Mint and was even knighted. This was a prominent figure in the scientific world and in the public world of his time. His work will not be forgotten.
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English Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Sir Isaac Newton” for Kids, Students of Class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 CBSE, ICSE Board Examination
Sir isaac newton.
Sir Isaac Newton was a great mathematician and scientist. He was one of the most learned men and one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever seen.
He was born in the year 1642, at a small town in Lincolnshire, in England, called Woolsthorpe, and became Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1669. He brought out his famous book, the Principia, in 1687. In 1699 he was made Master of the Mint (where English coins are made) in London and was elected President of the Royal Society in 1703. In the year 1705, he was made a Knight by Queen Anne. He died in 1727, at the age of eighty-five.
Sir Isaac Newton is best known as the discoverer of the law of gravitation. The story is that what started him thinking on this subject was the fall of an apple in his garden at Woolsthorpe in the year 1666. He had seen apples fall from the trees many times before, and millions of people had seen the same thing and thought nothing about it. But just at that time he was studying the movements of stars and trying to find out why they travelled in the sky in the way they did. And the sight of an apple falling to the ground from a tree set his mind working in the right direction and led him to explain the movements of the moon round the earth, and of the earth and the other planets round the sun.
Besides this he found out that the white light of the sun is made up of seven colours, which we see in a rainbow; and he made many other great discoveries.
Though he was such a learned man, he was very humble: and a little before his death he said: “I seem to have been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” He was humble because, though he knew so much, his great learning showed him how much there was to be known.
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The Scientific and Mathematical Papers of Sir Isaac Newton
The scientific and mathematical papers of Sir Isaac Newton represent one of the most important archives of scientific and intellectual work on global phenomena and marks a key moment in the development of the ‘new science’ in the seventeenth century and the importance it placed on observation and an experimental approach to the study of nature. The papers document the development of Sir Isaac Newton’s thought on universal gravitation, calculus, and optics and reveal not discoveries fully formed through inspiration of a lone genius, but ideas worked out through painstaking experiments, calculations, correspondence and revisions. The inscription also includes personal notebooks, correspondence, the manuscript and annotated editions of Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica and a substantial and significant collection of alchemical, theological and administrative manuscripts.
Documentary heritage submitted by Israel and United Kingdom and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2017. "The Scientific and Mathematical Papers of Sir Isaac Newton" were recommended as an addition to " The Papers of Sir Isaac Newton " inscribed in the Memory of the World Register in 2015.
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Essays on Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was a pivotal figure in the scientific revolution, and writing an essay on him is important in order to understand his contributions to the field of physics and mathematics. Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation have had a profound impact on our understanding of the natural world and continue to influence scientific thought to this day. By researching and writing about Newton, students can gain a deeper appreciation for the history of science and the power of human curiosity and intellect.
When writing an essay on Isaac Newton, it is important to start by conducting thorough research. This may involve reading primary sources, such as Newton's own writings, as well as secondary sources that provide context and analysis of his work. It is also important to consider the historical and cultural context in which Newton lived and worked, as this can provide valuable insights into his ideas and their impact.
Another important tip for writing an essay on Newton is to clearly outline the key points and arguments that will be addressed. This can help to ensure that the essay is well-organized and focused, and can also make the writing process more efficient. Additionally, it is important to use evidence and examples to support any claims or assertions made in the essay, as this can help to strengthen the overall argument.
Finally, when writing about Newton, it is important to consider the broader implications of his work and its relevance to contemporary scientific thought. By connecting Newton's ideas to modern scientific discoveries and theories, students can demonstrate the ongoing relevance of his work and its enduring impact on the world of science.
Best Isaac Newton Essay Topics
- The impact of Isaac Newton's laws of motion on modern physics
- Newton's role in the scientific revolution
- The rivalry between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over the invention of calculus
- The lesser-known aspects of Isaac Newton's personal life and struggles
- The influence of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica on the scientific community
- Newton's contributions to the field of optics and light theory
- The religious and alchemical beliefs of Isaac Newton
- Newton's lasting legacy in the field of mathematics
- The controversy surrounding Isaac Newton's work on alchemy and the occult
- The significance of Isaac Newton's laws of gravitation in understanding the universe
- Newton's impact on the field of astronomy
- The role of Isaac Newton in the Royal Society of London
- The connection between Isaac Newton's work and the Industrial Revolution
- The portrayal of Isaac Newton in popular culture and literature
- Newton's influence on the Enlightenment era
- The reception and impact of Newton's work during his lifetime
- Newton's contributions to the field of engineering
- The relationship between Isaac Newton and his contemporaries in the scientific community
- The cultural and historical context of Newton's contributions to science
- The relevance of Isaac Newton's work in modern-day physics and mathematics
Isaac Newton Essay Topics Prompts
- If Isaac Newton could time travel to the present day, what do you think would surprise him the most about modern physics and mathematics?
- Write a letter from the perspective of Isaac Newton, reflecting on his greatest achievements and regrets.
- Create a dialogue between Isaac Newton and a contemporary scientist, discussing their differing views on the nature of the universe.
- Imagine a world where Isaac Newton's laws of motion were never discovered. How do you think this would have impacted the development of science and technology?
- Write a biography of Isaac Newton, highlighting the lesser-known aspects of his life and work.
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Isaac Newton (born December 25, 1642 [January 4, 1643, New Style], Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England—died March 20 [March 31], 1727, London) English physicist and mathematician who was the culminating figure of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. In optics, his discovery of the composition of white light integrated the phenomena of colours into the science of light and laid the ...
Sir Isaac Newton FRS (25 December 1642 - 20 March 1726/27) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a natural philosopher. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His pioneering book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical ...
500 Words Essay on Isaac Newton Introduction. Isaac Newton, born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England, was a renowned physicist and mathematician. He is often hailed as one of the most influential scientists of all time. His contributions to the fields of physics, mathematics, and astronomy have had a profound impact on our understanding ...
Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician famous for his laws of physics. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. Updated: Nov 5, 2020
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was an English mathematician and physicist who developed influential theories on light, calculus and celestial mechanics. Years of research culminated with the 1687 ...
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was an English mathematician and physicist widely regarded as the single most important figure in the Scientific Revolution for his three laws of motion and universal law of gravity. Newton's laws became a fundamental foundation of physics, while his discovery that white light is made up of a rainbow of colours revolutionised the field of optics.
Isaac Newton is one of the greatest historical figures who will remain the annals of history, because of his numerous contributions to different scientific fields such as mathematics and physics. As Hall (Para 1) argues, "Generally, people have always regarded Newton as one of the most influential theorists in the history of science".
The English Civil War had begun in 1642, King Charles was beheaded in 1649, Oliver Cromwell ruled as lord protector from 1653 until he died in 1658, followed by his son Richard from 1658 to 1659, leading to the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. ... Isaac Newton's Papers and Letters on Natural Philosophy, 2 nd ed., ed. I. B ...
Sir Isaac Newton ran for a seat in Parliament in 1689. He won the election and became a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University. He was also appointed as a Warden of the Mint in 1969. Due to his exemplary work and dedication to the mint, he was chosen Master of the Mint in 1700. After being knighted in 1705, he was known as "Sir Isaac ...
Isaac Newton. Muhammad Tuhin December 21, 2023 0. Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was a renowned English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He is best known for formulating the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. Newton's contributions laid the foundation for classical mechanics and greatly influenced the scientific revolution.
Born in 1642, Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and author who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists in history. He is known as the father of modern physics. He made significant contributions to various fields of science and mathematics, and his work laid the foundation for many ...
- Isaac Newton1 Newton as natural philosopher Isaac Newton's influence is ubiquitous 300 years after his death. We employ Newtonian mechanics in a wide range of cases, students world-wide learn the calculus that he co-discovered with Leibniz, and the law of universal gravitation characterizes what is still considered a fundamental force.
Read a comprehensive biography of Isaac Newton's life, including major events, key people and terms, and important achievements. ... you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! ... Further Study Essay Topics. Previous .
Cambridge University Library holds the largest and most important collection of the scientific works of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). They range from his early papers and College notebooks through to the ground-breaking Waste Book and his own annotated copy of the first edition of the Principia.These manuscripts along with those held at Trinity College Cambridge, King's College Cambridge, the ...
Published: 11/15/2019. Isaac Newton was an English scientist who not only studied but made stupendous discoveries in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. However, he is also a well-known astronomer, natural philosopher and theologian. Sir Isaac Newton was born in three months after the death of his father and when his mother remarried he moved ...
Essay on Isaac Newton in 250 words Isaac Newton, born on December 25, 1642, in Woolsthorpe, England, was a towering figure in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. His profound contributions to physics, mathematics, and optics laid the foundation for modern science and transformed our understanding of the natural world.
Conclusion of Essay on Isaac Newton in 100 Words. In conclusion, Sir Isaac Newton's contributions to science and mathematics are immeasurable. His laws of motion and universal gravitation transformed our understanding of the physical world and continue to inspire scientists today.
Sir Isaac Newton. Sir Isaac Newton was a great mathematician and scientist. He was one of the most learned men and one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever seen. He was born in the year 1642, at a small town in Lincolnshire, in England, called Woolsthorpe, and became Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1669.
Historical Annotations on the Elogium of Leibniz. Author: Isaac Newton Metadata: c. 1700-1727, in English with Latin and French, c. 10,667 words, 10 ff. Source: MS Add. 3968, ff. 372r-381v, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK Newton Catalogue ID: NATP00370 [Diplomatic text] [Catalogue Entry]
Media Gallery. <p>The scientific and mathematical papers of Sir Isaac Newton represent one of the most important archives of scientific and intellectual work on global phenomena and marks a key moment in the development of the 'new science' in the seventeenth century and the importance it placed on observation and an experimental approach ...
Copy of a French translation of a letter from John Keill to John Bernouilli. Author: Isaac Newton Metadata: c. 1710-1720, in French with a little English and Latin, c. 11,725 words, 19 ff. Source: MS Add. 3968, ff. 339r-367v, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK Newton Catalogue ID: NATP00367 [Diplomatic text] [Catalogue Entry]
2 pages / 1032 words. Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643. He was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. His father, also Isaac Newton, was a farmer. Unfortunately, Isaac Newton's father died before he was born. Isaac Newton's father could not read or write. Three years later, Hannah Ayscough,...
Sir Isaac Newton The Most Influential Scientist English Literature Essay. Sir Isaac Newton, the most influential scientist of the world was a respected polymath. He was a Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Natural philosopher, Alchemist and a Theologian. Today's modern and technically advanced era of scientific supremacy could not be ...