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Sir Isaac Newton
“I do not feign hypotheses”
-Principia Mathematica
January 4th 1643 – March 31st 1727
Biography
 Sir Isaac Newton was born on January 4th 1643 in Lincolnshire, England, three
months after his father died.
 At the age of 3 his mother was remarried to Reverend Barnabus Smith whom he
intensely disliked.
 Isaac Newton attended The Kings School until the age of seventeen, when he was
admitted to Trinity College. While the university taught the works of Aristotle,
Newton preferred to study the works of Descartes and Galileo.
 In 1665, the university he was attending closed due to the widely infectious plague.
However he did not waste this time and made advances in optics and mathematics,
but was reluctant to have his discoveries published.
 In 1667, Newton resumed work at Trinity College, now taking up alchemy.
 Newton first released his work to the mathematical community in 1668 after
expanding on methods presented on dealing with infinite series for which he was
then presented with a Lucasian Professorship at Trinity College.
 Newton’s first public contribution to the scientific world was the reflecting
telescope which he designed and created. This technology ensured his election to
membership in the Royal Society.
 Feeling extremely well received by his colleagues, Newton released a paper on
light and colours in 1672. However he did not respond well to the criticism put
forth by Robert Hooke, and withdrew into virtual isolation
 After several years Newton released a second paper explaining the properties of
light, which again caused controversy with Robert Hooke which was soon resolved
and circle of English Jesuits in Liège. Newton was not capable of dealing with and
suffered a nervous breakdown followed by six years of isolation.
 During Newton’s time of solitude he rediscovered his passion for alchemy.
 In 1884, Newton expanded on one of his previous theories of orbital dynamics at the
urge of Edmond Halley, who was stumped by this idea. Newton’s theory soon
became the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica which is the basis for all
of modern science.
 The Newton’s three laws of motion are:
1. that a body remains in its state of rest unless it is compelled to change that state by a force
impressed on it;
2. that the change of motion (the change of velocity times the mass of the body) is
proportional to the force impressed;
3. that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
 Isaac Newton presented the manuscript to the Royal Society in 1686 and Robert
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Hooke claimed it as plagiarism. Unlike the past times that Newton had received
criticism, he stood his ground and edited his work so that there was no trace of
Hooke left. Newton also declined the presidency of the Royal Society until Hooke
was dead.
Newton soon became very sought- after with by young scientists creating a
generation of Newtonians, and was seen as an idol, and offered a position at
Cambridge.
Isaac Newton became a leading force in the religious battle to keep Protestantism the
state religion in England under King James the Second.
After finishing the jewel of his work, Newton became bored with his current life and
went to find a position in London.
Finally he received a position as warden of the mint in 1696, but he did not resign
from Cambridge until 1701.
 In 1693, Newton briefly lost his sanity when one of his most influential friends, Fatio
de Duillier, became seriously ill, but as the crisis ended Newton regained his sanity.
 In 1705, Queen Anne knighted him now making him Sir Isaac Newton.
 Sir Isaac Newton died 1727 in London, England.
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
 Published July 5th, 1687
 States Newton’s three laws of motion
 Carries conditions and hypothetical
laws in non-resisting and resisting
media for then the media is in motion
 The ideas put forth in the book are
those that attempt to explain terrestrial
movement and celestial movement
Significance of Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton left his legacy in the world of science. His discovery of the three
laws of physics that are applied world-wide have become the basis of present day
science. Once Newton had discovered that white light was actually a prism full of
colours of designed and created a reflected telescope which uses different
coloured tinted glass to provide a sharper picture, this technology is still used in
larger telescopes.
Key Issues
 Religion: during the rule of King James the Second there was an attempt to
change the state religion to Catholicism, however Isaac Newton being a strong
protestant, argued strongly against this change
 Economics: when Newton was serving as warden of the mint during The Great
Recoinage, counterfeiting was high treason punishable by being hanged, Isaac
Newton literally took the law into his own hands and went undercover to find the
perpetrators
 Science: Newton devoted most of his life to the art of science, involving such
areas as optics, mathematics, mechanics and gravitation, improving each area that
he worked in
Bibliography
 Anderson, Arthur B. "Sir Isaac Newton." The Reformation Online - The Most
Timely, Scientific, and Patriotic Site on the Internet. Web. 02 Jan. 2010.
<http://www.reformation.org/newton.html>.
 Flower, Michael. "Isaac Newton." Galileo and Einstein Home Page. Web. 01 Jan.
2010. <http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/newton.html>.
 "Sir Isaac Newton." 2010. Biography.com. 1 Jan 2010, 08:39
<http://www.biography.com/articles/Sir-Isaac-Newton-9422656>.