Isaac Newton is famous for his laws of motion (Newton’s Laws), which are still taught today in physics classes. In fact, those concepts were covered within the first week of the physics course I am enrolled in. In reading further into the life of Newton, I was surprised to see how expansive his works are; he single-handedly made many contributions to science. He lived from 1642-1727 and appears to have always been a quirky individual.
His knack for science showed even when he was a child, as he would construct accurate sundials and even create a mouse-powered flour mill. Having noticed his talent, his uncle enrolled him at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661. Here Newton began to explore the world of mathematics and taught himself the concepts of trigonometry and geometry in order to better understand a book on astrology. He earned his B.A. in 1664, the year the Great Plague struck England, and the university shut down from then until 1666. During this time Newton explored some of his greatest ideas. By the age of 25, he made the following major breakthroughs:
He invented calculus (although he did not publish his works until later on in life).
He created the three laws of motion (Newton’s Laws):
- An object at rest will stay and rest; an object in motion will stay in motion; unless it is acted upon by a net outside force.
- The relationship between force F, and an object’s mass m and its acceleration a, being F = ma.
- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
He discovered the law of universal gravitation.
He proved that white light is actually a spectrum of different colors of light.
These ideas have done a lot to benefit the world of science and math, but his legacy doesn’t end there. By the age of 26, after the college re-opened, Newton was teaching as a professor in mathematics. It is said that Dr. Isaac Barrow, who once was Newton’s teacher, resigned out of respect so that Newton would become Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He continued lecturing in math for next 20 years while keeping up with his works and experiments. In 1672 he invented a telescope that used reflection. He published his Principia (mathematical principles of natural philosophy) in 1687, which included his laws of motion and universal gravitation, an explanation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, and a wide range of other explanations related to astronomy. He spent much time studying alchemy and chemistry (the famous lead to gold experiments), and even spent some time considering theology and writing religious tracts during the 1690’s. Unfortunately he postponed publishing his works on calculus until 1693—which was 9 years after Leibiniz had already published his identical process. Of course this lead to much dispute throughout the century, however, Newton and Leibiniz both stayed above the argument. Newton’s Opticks was published in 1704, covering reflection, refraction, and color. It is considered one of the great works of science history.
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