Isaac Newton

Lore & Background

Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, three months after his father's death. His mother remarried when he was three, leaving him with his maternal grandmother. He attended The King's School in Grantham, where he learned Latin and Ancient Greek, and was later persuaded by his schoolmaster and uncle to return to school after his mother tried to make him a farmer. At Cambridge, he started as a subsizar, paying his way by performing valet duties until awarded a scholarship in 1664. He discovered the generalized binomial theorem in 1665 and began developing calculus. After obtaining his BA in August 1665, the university closed due to the Great Plague, and during the next two years at Woolsthorpe he developed theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation.

Reader's Guide

Newton's work in the Principia formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which dominated scientific thought for centuries until superseded by relativity. His laws remain sufficient approximations for low speeds and weak gravitational fields. He derived Kepler's laws, accounted for tides, comet trajectories, and the precession of the equinoxes, eradicating doubt about heliocentricity. He solved the two-body problem, introduced the three-body problem, and demonstrated that terrestrial and celestial motions follow the same principles. His inference that Earth is an oblate spheroid was confirmed by geodetic measurements. He built the first reflecting telescope, developed a theory of colour, and published Opticks in 1704. He formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and introduced the notions of a Newtonian fluid and a black body. He generalized the binomial theorem, classified cubic plane curves, and originated the Newton–Cotes formulas. He served as Lucasian Professor at Cambridge, was a Member of Parliament for the university, and spent his later years as Warden and Master of the Royal Mint, increasing the accuracy and security of British coinage. He was president of the Royal Society from 1703 to 1727.

Did You Know?

• Newton was born prematurely and his mother said he could have fit inside a quart mug.
• He once threatened to burn his mother and stepfather's house over them, as recorded in a list of sins.
• He built the first reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour using prisms.
• He served as Warden and Master of the Royal Mint, improving the accuracy and security of British coinage.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Plato is my friend — Aristotle is my friend — but my greatest friend is truth." — Isaac Newton "Variant translations: Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth. Plato is my friend — Aristotle is my friend — truth is a greater friend." — Isaac Newton "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants." — Isaac Newton "Paraphrases: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." — Isaac Newton