Newton,+Isaac

=**__Isaac Newton__**=

__**Biography**__

Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England on Christmas day, December 25, 1642. He was born prematurely, and there was a lot of concern that he wouldn't live. His father, who was a successful farmer, died three months before he was born. After his death, his mom remarried to a wealthy elderly man from a nearby village when Isaac was three. She packed her bags and left to live with him, leaving Isaac Newton to live with his grandmother. As Newton grew up he was fascinated with mechanical things, and how things worked. He even created a model of a mill that was powered by a mouse. When Newton was 11 years old his mom’s husband died and she came back to Woolsthorpe, along with three young kids to take care of him again. Then two years later Newton went to grammar school in Grantham. His mother’s thinking was that when he turned seventeen he would come home and be a farmer. When he turned seventeen, he came home and began farming as planned; as it turned out though he was a terrible farmer. He just wasn’t fit for the job. So in 1661 Isaac Newton went to Trinity College in Cambridge. He finished four years of college and was given financial support for the last year; but by 1665 the plague had spread to Cambridge and the University closed. Newton headed home where he studied physics and mathematical problems for two years. Then in 1667 he returned to Cambridge where he studied alchemy. Newton began his mathematical career by designing and creating a mirror reflecting telescope. This was a great achievement because his new design allowed a much clearer image. Newton became a member of the royal society; then went on to prove that the planets followed an orbit because of gravitational pull from the sun; he explained that it was the same force that was keeping the planets in rotation that made an apple fall from a tree to the Earth. He published this information in the Principia in 1686. By this time he had become famous, and was even recognized by Queen Anne. He was also known for his long and heated arguments with other scientists; and that’s exactly how he spent most of the end of his life. And by March 20, 1727 he died. He was then buried in Westminster Abbey where he remains today.



__**Contributions**__

Isaac Newton was born with farming parents, his dad who was very successful with farming died three months before he was born. So it was assumed that Newton himself would be a good farmer, so at age 17 he began working. He ended up an awful farmer, it was as if he had had no relations to his father. So he went to Trinity College in Cambridge. The decision made of going to college was a good one because almost immediately he began contributing to the math world. One of his first contributions to the mathematical world was the mirror reflecting telescope. Although the telescope sounds like a small and easy invention; it was a break through. The new design allowed a much clearer, more magnified picture. His first design; a six inch telescope was able to see Jupiter’s satellites. At around the same time he also discovered calculus himself. Learning calculus is probably hard enough by itself, but finding it, figuring it out, and actually understanding it must have been nearly impossible. Also at around the same time and during the beginning of his mathematical career he figured out that white light is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. Later in his life he published the Principia in 1687. The article summarized about the force of gravity. He explained that the same force that pulled an apple from a tree to the Earth was gravity, which was the same force that kept all the planets in orbit. Smaller objects are pulled by gravity towards larger objects. The apple is the small object and it is attracted to the big Earth and the planets are the small objects in the solar system and they’re pulled towards the big object, the Earth. Through the rest of Newton’s life he studied theology, alchemy, and history. He also made a theory that light is made up of particles during his study of optics; his theory remains true in the newer more advanced theory over the subject, and he became the president of the royal society. Isaac Newton is considered to be one of mankind’s best physicist/mathematician and was by far the very best at that time period. He didn’t get that reputation for nothing either. He spent countless hours studying, and thinking beyond most people’s imaginations. His contributions to the math world have changed everyone and have also given everyone a better understanding of how things like gravity works. Isaac Newton deserves all the fame he has gotten and hopefully people will learn from his success and continue to follow in his footsteps.



__**Bibliography**__

Cook, Russell. __Law Of Gravity__. 1999 Virtual Library. 2-25-08 <[|http://library.thinkquest.org/28327/html/exploration/people/newton.html>.]

Fowler, Michael. __Issac Newton__. 1995 2-26-08 <[|http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/newton.html>.]

__Historic Figures, Isaac Newton__. 2008 BBC. 2-21-08 <[|http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/newton_isaac.shtml>.]

Gillispie, Charles. __Dictionary of Scientific Biography__. New York: Charles Scribner's sons, 1970.

__Newton,Sir Isaac__. 2007 Bartleby. 12-27-08 <[|http://www.bartleby.com/65/ne/Newton-s.html>.]