isaac newton brief biography

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

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.”

HISTORY Vault: Sir Isaac Newton: Gravity of Genius

Explore the life of Sir Isaac Newton, who laid the foundations for calculus and defined the laws of gravity.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Biography Online

Biography Sir Isaac Newton

Early Life of Newton

Sir Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, in 1643, to a relatively poor farming family. His father died three months before he was born. His mother later remarried, but her second husband did not get on with Isaac; leading to friction between Isaac and his parents. The young Isaac attended school at King’s School, Grantham in Lincolnshire (where his signature is still inscribed on the walls.) Isaac was one of the top students, but before completing his studies his mother withdrew him from school, so Isaac could work as a farmer. It was only through the intervention of the headmaster that Isaac was able to return to finish his studies; he passed his final exams with very good results and was able to go to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Newton at Cambridge

Sir Isaac Newton, has been referred to as one of the greatest geniuses of history. His mathematical and scientific achievements give credence to such a view. His many accomplishments in the field of science include:

Developing a theory of calculus . Unfortunately, at the same time as Newton, calculus was being developed by Leibniz.  When Leibniz published his results, there was a bitter feud between the two men, with Newton claiming plagiarism. This bitter feud lasted until Leibniz death in 1713, it also extended between British mathematicians and the continent.

Mathematical achievements of Newton

• Generalized binomial theorem
• Newton’s identities,
• Newton’s method,
• Classified cubic plane curves (polynomials of degree three in two variables),
• Substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences,
• Use of fractional indices
• Used geometry to derive solutions to Diophantine equations.
• Used power series with confidence and to revert power series.
• Discovered a new formula for pi.

Scientific Achievements of Newton

• Optics – Newton made great advancements in the study of optics. In particular, he developed the spectrum by splitting white light through a prism.
• Telescope – Made significant improvements to the development of the telescope. However, when his ideas were criticised by Hooke, Newton withdrew from the public debate. He developed an antagonistic and hostile attitude to Hooke, throughout his life.
• Mechanics and Gravitation . In his famous book Principia Mathematica . (1687) Newton explained the three laws of motion that laid the framework for modern physics. This involved explaining planetary movements.

Newton hit on the head with an Apple

The most popular anecdote about Sir Isaac Newton is the story of how the theory of gravitation came to him, after being hit on the head with a falling apple. In reality, Newton and his friends may have exaggerated this story. Nevertheless, it is quite likely that seeing apples fall from trees may have influenced his theories of gravity.

Newton’s Religious Beliefs

As well as being a scientist, Newton actually spent more time investigating religious issues. He read the Bible daily, believing it to be the word of God. Nevertheless, he was not satisfied with the Christian interpretations of the Bible. For example, he rejected the philosophy of the Holy Trinity; his beliefs were closer to the Christian beliefs in Arianism (basically there was a difference between Jesus Christ and God)

Newton – Bible Code

Newton was fascinated with the early Church and also the last chapter of the Bible Revelations. He spent many hours poring over the Bible, trying to find the secret Bible Code. He was rumoured to be a Rosicrucian. The religious beliefs that Newton held could have caused serious embarrassment at the time. Because of this, he kept his views hidden, almost to the point of obsession. This desire for secrecy seemed to be part of his nature. It was only on his death that his papers were opened up. The bishop who first opened Newton’s box, actually found them too shocking for public release, therefore, they were kept closed for many more years.

Newton and Alchemy

Newton was also interested in alchemy. He experimented on many objects, using a lot of Mercury. Very high levels of mercury in his bloodstream may have contributed to his early death and irregularities in later life.

Newton was made a member of the Royal Society in 1703. He was also given the job of Master of Mint in 1717. He took this job seriously and unofficially was responsible for moving England from the silver standard to the gold standard.

Newton was an extraordinary polymath; the universe simply fascinated him. He sought to discover the hidden and outer mysteries of life. With his sharp intellect and powers of concentration, he was able to contribute to tremendous developments in many areas of science. He was a unique individual. John Maynard Keynes , a twentieth-century genius, said of Newton:

“I do not think that any one who has pored over the contents of that box which he packed up when he finally left Cambridge in 1696 and which, though partly dispersed, have come down to us, can see him like that. 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 which 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. Isaac Newton, a posthumous child born with no father on Christmas Day, 1642, was the last wonderchild to whom the Magi could do sincere and appropriate homage.” [1]

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Sir Isaac Newton”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net , 18th May. 2009. Last updated 28 Feb 2018.

Further reading: Interesting facts about Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton at Amazon

Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World

Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World at Amazon

Related pages

Inventions that changed the world  – Famous inventions that made a great difference to the progress of the world, including aluminium, the telephone and the printing press.

[1] Keynes on Newton the Man

Isaac Newton

Server costs fundraiser 2024.

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 was born on 25 December 1642. His family in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, was of the yeomanry class, but it was clear that Isaac was destined for a career other than farming. Isaac's father died a few months before he was born, and his stepfather, a minister, died when he was 14. His mother was Hannah Ayscough, and her second husband insisted that Isaac be separated from his mother for a number of years. Some historians have read into this period of neglect the cause of Newton's notoriously prickly character and hypersensitivity to criticism later in life.

The young Isaac had a prodigious interest in all things mechanical, and he made several working models of his own, but he did not do particularly well at school. He was mischievous and once sent out into the night sky a series of candle-lit lanterns, which startled the local villagers into thinking a shower of comets was about to strike them down. An uncle of Isaac was adamant he was sent to study law at Trinity College, Cambridge, in June 1661. It was not law, though, but mathematics at which the young scholar excelled.

Isaac supplemented his orthodox education by taking private lessons with the mathematician and theologian Isaac Barrow (1630-1677). Barrow would later recommend Newton for his own soon-to-be-vacant chair at Trinity College. Newton graduated in April 1665, but any hope of a quick career launch was scuppered when there was an outbreak of the Black Death plague . Isaac was obliged to return to the family home in Woolthorpe for a year or more.

Newton's Approach to Knowledge

Isaac did not waste his year of forced seclusion as he launched into a series of scientific investigations, so much so that he described 1665 to 1666 as his "year of wonder" (Burns, 217). Newton discovered "the binomial theory, the differential and integral calculus, and the refraction of light, and he began to work out the theory of universal gravitation" ( ibid ). Heady stuff. Newton was determined to use all manner of methodologies and thinking, from alchemy to mechanical philosophy , in order to find out scientific truths that can be expressed mathematically. To this end, he relentlessly squirrelled away kernels of ancient and contemporary knowledge, experimentation, and even lore in a few select and very private leather-bound volumes, thus preserving his findings for later consumption when his scientific theories became clearer. As Newton himself once stated in a private letter, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" (Wootton, 341).

Newton was also a Protestant Christian (although an unorthodox one in private) and saw no conflict in his endeavours to explain why things happened the way they do in the physical world with the story of the Bible . Indeed, the imperfections of the physical world his theories proved all required, Newton said, a Creator to adjust them every now and then. Some Christians saw this as denying the perfection of the Creator, others saw it as support for having a Creator in the first place. For Newton, space was "an eminent effect of God ," and "he seems to have gone so far as to later identify space with the immensity of God, so that the biblical pronouncements that 'In Him we live, and move, and have our being' (Acts 17:28) was taken quite literally" (Henry, 89).

Like many thinkers of the time, Newton was convinced that great knowledge had been gained and then lost over the centuries and so careful research of past intellectual endeavours was essential in order to recapture this lost wisdom (known as prisca sapientia ). This belief in a lost or secret knowledge – a peculiar eccentricity for a scientist – may also explain why Newton was notoriously reticent to publish his own discoveries. He seemed to relish secrecy, just as was the tradition of the great alchemists of the Middle Ages. Fortunately for the progress of humanity, Newton did eventually make his ground-breaking research public.

Newton's Spectrum of Light

Newton did not find the esteemed Royal Society very receptive to his new ideas, particularly on optics, and so he got his foot in the door of that institution by designing a reflective telescope in 1668. This type of telescope used a curved mirror made of a tin and copper alloy, which improved the clarity of the image seen by reducing chromatic aberration, that is, when all colours fail to converge in a single point (a problem of glass lenses at the time). Newton's telescope had a magnification of 40 times and was ten times shorter than the standard refracting telescope of the same strength would have been. The Royal Society was hooked, and Newton was elected to that learned body in 1672; he then submitted his research on optics, which had, in fact, made his super-duper telescope possible.

Between 1666 and 1668, Newton had conducted optical experiments where he captured a narrow beam of light through an aperture, which was then projected onto a wall in a dark room. The light was made to shine through a prism. Others had done this sort of thing before, but, significantly, Newton put his prism near the hole and far from the wall on which was projected a block of rainbow colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Even more crucial – in what he called his experimentum crucis – Newton then had various colour beams of the split white light go through a second prism, and these left that second prism the same colour as they entered, i.e. they could not be split further. Newton was thus able to develop a new theory of light, which was that white light is made up of a spectrum of different colours, each with a different angle of refraction, just like a rainbow one could see in the sky after a shower of rain. In the rainbow in the sky, drops of water function as a prism, that is, the white light is refracted. Newton also discovered that in the tiny airspace between a lens and a sheet of glass, coloured concentric rings can be seen, and these are now called Newton's rings.

Newton's idea of heterogeneous light, published in Philosophical Transactions in 1672, went directly against the standard theory of the time, which was the inverse of Newton's. Champions of the standard theory included Robert Hooke (1635-1703), who dismissed Newton's theory and later even accused him of plagiarism (without foundation). Newton, who was "of somewhat paranoid temperament" (Burns, 73) and "socially dysfunctional" (Jardine, 36), promptly withdrew from the Royal Society and would not even accept its presidency until Hooke had departed this earth. In 1704, Newton finally published his work on light in detail in his Optics . It took some time for Newton's theory to become widely accepted, but it is now a cornerstone of the science of optics.

Newton's Law of Gravity

The German astronomer Johannes Kepler created the most accurate yet system of planetary astronomy, with the heavenly bodies moving in elliptical orbits around the Sun and not the traditional model of perfect circles as proposed by thinkers from Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100 to c. 170) to Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). The discovery that the planets increased their speed as they drew closer to the Sun was essential for Newton to build his own work upon. Newton's law of gravity would provide the cause for Kepler's keen observations of elliptical planetary motions. Encouraged, both with words and money, by his good friend Edmund Halley (1656-1742), Newton finally presented his theory of gravity in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy ( Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ), published in 1687.

The effects of gravity have been known since antiquity. Ancient thinkers formed theories as to why objects fell to the ground, the most common being that this was because Earth was the very centre of the universe and so some mysterious force attracted all objects to the central point. Similarly, thinkers like Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) had pondered what kind of force was responsible for the Sun seemingly pulling orbiting planets more speedily to its centre the closer they got to it. Magnetism was often suggested as the answer, but many thinkers remained unconvinced.

An apple may not have actually fallen from a branch and hit Newton on the head, but it does seem that his observation of fruit falling set him pondering what force was involved and how to measure it. Newton had also noticed many other 'attractions' and 'repulsions' between many other objects and substances, and so he began to formulate a theory that could measure such phenomena and finally bring together (or at least reconcile) two ancient but often opposing strands of human thought: mechanics and mathematics.

In his Principia , Newton put forward his theory of universal gravitation, but first, he presented a system of mathematical laws, which became known as 'Newton's laws of motion', here summarised by W. E. Burns:

That there is an attractive force between bodies that varies with the inverse square of the distance between them – and Newton's three laws of motion – 1. a body at rest or in motion in a straight path will tend to stay in that state, 2. a change of motion in a body varies with the force impressed, and 3. each action has an equal and opposite reaction. (218)

Newton then presented his theory of gravity:

That between any two bodies in the universe there exists a force directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two bodies and inversely proportional to the square of their distance. (Burns, 245)

Newton's theory of gravity was universal because it applied to everything from spinning planets to the movement of comets to the tides of the sea to that apocryphal apple dropping from a tree. The law of gravity (actually called a 'law' by Newton only in his later Optics ) applied equally to terrestrial affairs and to the heavens. Newton could now make accurate predictions of the effects of gravity. This was a new science. Of course, not everyone immediately adopted Newton's theories. The mechanical philosophers and the Cartesian followers of René Descartes (1596-1650), for example, could not accept that one physical body can affect another body without something, a third element, touching the two. Put simply, gravity was rather mysterious, since nobody, not even Newton, knew where it came from, why it exists, and who or what ensures its persistence. Contemplation on this fact and the inference that these forces act without any consideration of humanity led in some ways to a disenchantment regarding a new and pitiless world, at least for those who did not believe that a god of some kind was behind it all.

Recognition: The Greatest Scientist

Newton's work on gravity was ultimately well received, particularly in England , and he was made a fellow of Trinity College in 1687. Two years later, Newton became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics there. A circle of devoted international followers sprang up around Newton, including the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier (1664-1753), who became very close to him. From 1688, Newton became ambitious to forge a political career. The scientist had hoped to move to London but suffered a nervous breakdown in 1693, perhaps because of the end of his relationship with Fatio de Duillier but certainly made worse by his chronic insomnia and possibly even a consequence of mercury poisoning, a key ingredient of Newton's experiments in alchemy. Recovered by 1696, Newton was made the warden of the royal mint in the Tower of London , which carried with it both prestige and a handsome salary. Newton, taking a hands-on approach which had not been required for what was, in effect, an honorary position, impressed his employers so much that he was made the mint master in 1699. He performed the role with remarkable dedication for the next 28 years, much to the chagrin of the countless counterfeiters he identified (who were then invariably hanged).

It was also in 1699 that Newton was appointed a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, the first foreigner to gain entry. In 1703, he was elected President of the Royal Society, and he used his position to skew the society's endeavours much more towards practical experimentation (as opposed to merely reading the academic papers of others) throughout his tenure, which ended in 1727. Less admirable was his ongoing feud with the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , which significantly held back mathematics in Britain . Newton accused Leibniz of plagiarising his work on the calculus (a mathematical tool for calculating curves and their areas). In reality, both men had developed the calculus independently, and although most historians consider Newton to have got there first, Leibniz's version was superior. Newton was knighted by Anne, Queen of Great Britain (r. 1702-1714) in 1705, probably more for his service in the royal mint than his tremendous contribution to science, but, nevertheless, it was a memorable moment for all scientists past and present since he was the first to be so honoured.

Death & Legacy

Newton was famous in his own lifetime for his discoveries, as we have seen with his various appointments to prestigious institutions at home and abroad. Rather oddly for a man so associated with science, Newton spent his final years studying biblical prophecies, an area he believed was just as valid as scientific experimentation. Sir Isaac Newton died of kidney failure on 20 March 1727; he was 84 years old. He had never married and left no children. Newton was given a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey. Alexander Pope provided the memorable epitaph:

Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter!

Nature and Nature's Laws lay hid by Night: GOD said, Let Newton be! And all was Light. (Wootton, 361)

Newton, in one of those statements he frequently made where one wonders if he is being genuinely modest, remarked upon his career and discoveries in the following terms:

I don't know what I may seem to the world but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like 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. (Gleick, 4)

There would be many more breakthroughs in science after Newton, but nothing as revolutionary as his work until the development in the 20th century of relativity and quantum physics.

There developed a definite movement, known as Newtonianism, which pushed the idea that scientific knowledge should be presented as a series of mathematical laws which could predict tendencies of motion in relation to hypothetical accelerative forces. In addition, because Newton's research was so complex and inaccessible to the majority, a great number of writers sprang up who simplified Newton's work so that it could be understood by the reasonably well-educated. Newtonianism gradually spread across Europe to become the dominant approach in universities and amongst intellectuals. Newton's approach to knowledge, spread to new minds by such thinkers as Voltaire (1694-1778) in his Elements of Newton's Philosophy (1738), was an important part of the Enlightenment movement, where the improvement of the human condition became the ultimate goal of philosophy and science, despite Newton having split those two disciplines apart forever. Even that great modern genius Albert Einstein (1879-1955), with his new theory of relativity, could not overthrow Newtonianism but only extend it to new and bold horizons. As Einstein once said of Newton: "He stands before us strong, certain, and alone" (Gleick, 9).

Subscribe to topic Related Content Books Cite This Work License

Bibliography

• Burns, William E. The Scientific Revolution in Global Perspective. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Burns, William E. The Scientific Revolution. ABC-CLIO, 2001.
• Bynum, William F. & Browne, Janet & Porter, Roy. Dictionary of the History of Science . Princeton University Press, 1982.
• Gleick, James. Isaac Newton. Vintage Books, 2023.
• Henry. The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science . Red Globe Press, 2008.
• Jardine, Lisa. Ingenious Pursuits. Anchor, 2000.
• Moran, Bruce T. Distilling Knowledge. Harvard University Press, 2005.
• Wootton, David. The Invention of Science. Penguin UK, 2023.

About the Author

Translations

We want people all over the world to learn about history. Help us and translate this definition into another language!

Questions & Answers

What is isaac newton famous for, was isaac newton an alchemist, what was the significance of newton's law of gravity, related content.

Astronomy in the Scientific Revolution

Scientific Revolution

Jesuit Influence on Post-medieval Chinese Astronomy

Greek Mathematics

Isaac I Komnenos

The Foundation of the Royal Society

Free for the world, supported by you.

World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

Recommended Books

Cite This Work

Cartwright, M. (2023, September 19). Isaac Newton . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Isaac_Newton/

Chicago Style

Cartwright, Mark. " Isaac Newton ." World History Encyclopedia . Last modified September 19, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/Isaac_Newton/.

Cartwright, Mark. " Isaac Newton ." World History Encyclopedia . World History Encyclopedia, 19 Sep 2023. Web. 06 Sep 2024.

License & Copyright

Submitted by Mark Cartwright , published on 19 September 2023. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike . This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

Sir Isaac Newton summary

Learn about the life and works of isaac newton.

Sir Isaac Newton , (born Jan. 4, 1643, Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died March 31, 1727, London), English physicist and mathematician. The son of a yeoman, he was raised by his grandmother. He was educated at Cambridge University (1661–65), where he discovered the work of René Descartes . His experiments passing sunlight through a prism led to the discovery of the heterogeneous, corpuscular nature of white light and laid the foundation of physical optics . He built the first reflecting telescope in 1668 and became a professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1669. He worked out the fundamentals of calculus , though this work went unpublished for more than 30 years. His most famous publication, Principia Mathematica (1687), grew out of correspondence with Edmond Halley . Describing his works on the laws of motion ( see Newton’s laws of motion ), orbital dynamics, tidal theory, and the theory of universal gravitation , it is regarded as the seminal work of modern science. He was elected president of the Royal Society of London in 1703 and became the first scientist ever to be knighted in 1705. During his career he engaged in heated arguments with several of his colleagues, including Robert Hooke (over authorship of the inverse square relation of gravitation) and G.W. Leibniz (over the authorship of calculus). The battle with Leibniz dominated the last 25 years of his life; it is now well established that Newton developed calculus first, but that Leibniz was the first to publish on the subject. Newton is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Biography of Isaac Newton, Mathematician and Scientist

Print Collector/Getty Images

• Famous Inventors
• Famous Inventions
• Patents & Trademarks
• Invention Timelines
• Computers & The Internet
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History

Sir Isaac Newton (Jan. 4, 1643–March 31, 1727) was a superstar of physics, math, and astronomy even in his own time. He occupied the chair of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in England, the same role later filled, centuries later, by Stephen Hawking . Newton conceived of several laws of motion , influential mathematical principals which, to this day, scientists use to explain how the universe works.

Fast Facts: Sir Isaac Newton

• Known For : Developed laws that explain how the universe works
• Born : Jan. 4, 1643 in Lincolnshire, England
• Parents : Isaac Newton, Hannah Ayscough
• Died : March 20, 1727 in Middlesex, England
• Education : Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1665)
• Published Works : De Analysi per Aequationes Numero Terminorum Infinitas (1669, published 1711), Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), Opticks (1704)
• Awards and Honors : Fellowship of the Royal Society (1672), Knight Bachelor (1705)
• Notable Quote : "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

Early Years and Influences

Newton was born in 1642 in a manor house in Lincolnshire, England. His father had died two months before his birth. When Newton was 3 his mother remarried and he remained with his grandmother. He was not interested in the family farm, so he was sent to Cambridge University to study.

Newton was born just a short time after the death of  Galileo , one of the greatest scientists of all time. Galileo had proved that the planets revolve around the sun, not the earth as people thought at the time. Newton was very interested in the discoveries of Galileo and others. Newton thought the universe worked like a machine and that a few simple laws governed it. Like Galileo, he realized that mathematics was the way to explain and prove those laws.

Laws of Motion

Newton formulated laws of motion and gravitation. These laws are math formulas that explain how objects move when a force acts on them. Newton published his most famous book, "Principia," in 1687 while he was a mathematics professor at Trinity College in Cambridge. In "Principia," Newton explained three basic laws that govern the way objects move. He also described his theory of gravity, the force that causes things to fall down. Newton then used his laws to show that the planets revolve around the suns in orbits that are oval, not round.

The three laws are often called Newton’s Laws. The first law states that an object that is not being pushed or pulled by some force will stay still or will keep moving in a straight line at a steady speed. For example, if someone is riding a bike and jumps off before the bike is stopped, what happens? The bike continues on until it falls over. The tendency of an object to remain still or keep moving in a straight line at a steady speed is called inertia.

The second law explains how a force acts on an object. An object accelerates in the direction the force is moving it. If someone gets on a bike and pushes the pedals forward, the bike will begin to move. If someone gives the bike a push from behind, the bike will speed up. If the rider pushes back on the pedals, the bike will slow down. If the rider turns the handlebars, the bike will change direction.

The third law states that if an object is pushed or pulled, it will push or pull equally in the opposite direction. If someone lifts a heavy box, they use force to push it up. The box is heavy because it is producing an equal force downward on the lifter’s arms. The weight is transferred through the lifter’s legs to the floor. The floor also presses upward with an equal force. If the floor pushed back with less force, the person lifting the box would fall through the floor. If it pushed back with more force, the lifter would fly up in the air.

Importance of Gravity

When most people think of Newton, they think of him sitting under an apple tree observing an apple fall to the ground. When he saw the apple fall, Newton began to think about a specific kind of motion called gravity. Newton understood that gravity was a force of attraction between two objects. He also understood that an object with more matter or mass exerted the greater force or pulled smaller objects toward it. That meant that the large mass of the Earth pulled objects toward it. That is why the apple fell down instead of up and why people don’t float in the air.

He also thought that maybe gravity was not just limited to the Earth and the objects on the earth. What if gravity extended to the Moon and beyond? Newton calculated the force needed to keep the Moon moving around the earth. Then he compared it with the force that made the apple fall downward. After allowing for the fact that the Moon is much farther from the Earth and has a much greater mass, he discovered that the forces were the same and that the Moon is also held in orbit around Earth by the pull of earth’s gravity.

Disputes in Later Years and Death

Newton moved to London in 1696 to accept the position of warden of the Royal Mint. For many years afterward, he argued with Robert Hooke over who had actually discovered the connection between elliptical orbits and the inverse square law, a dispute that ended only with Hooke's death in 1703.

In 1705, Queen Anne bestowed a knighthood upon Newton, and thereafter he was known as Sir Isaac Newton. He continued his work, particularly in mathematics. This led to another dispute in 1709, this time with German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz. They both quarreled over which of them had invented calculus.

One reason for Newton's disputes with other scientists was his overwhelming fear of criticism, which led him to write, but then postpone publication of, his brilliant articles until after another scientist created similar work. Besides his earlier writings, "De Analysi" (which didn't see publication until 1711) and "Principia" (published in 1687), Newton's publications included "Optics" (published in 1704), "The Universal Arithmetic" (published in 1707), the "Lectiones Opticae" (published in 1729), the "Method of Fluxions" (published in 1736), and the "Geometrica Analytica" (printed in 1779).

On March 20, 1727, Newton died near London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, the first scientist to receive this honor. 

Newton’s calculations changed the way people understood the universe. Prior to Newton, no one had been able to explain why the planets stayed in their orbits. What held them in place? People had thought that the planets were held in place by an invisible shield. Newton proved that they were held in place by the sun’s gravity and that the force of gravity was affected by distance and mass. While he was not the first person to understand that the orbit of a planet was elongated like an oval, he was the first to explain how it worked.

• “Isaac Newton's Life.”  Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
• “ Isaac Newton Quotes. ”  BrainyQuote , Xplore.
• “ Sir Isaac Newton. ”  StarChild , NASA.
• Biography of Christiaan Huygens, Prolific Scientist
• Women in Mathematics History
• Biography of Joseph Louis Lagrange, Mathematician
• Biography of Galileo Galilei, Renaissance Philosopher and Inventor
• James Clerk Maxwell, Master of Electromagnetism
• Biography of Alan Turing, Code-Breaking Computer Scientist
• Biography of Ada Lovelace, First Computer Programmer
• The History of Tablet Compters
• Biography of Johannes Kepler, Pioneering German Astronomer
• Biography of Charles Babbage, Mathematician and Computer Pioneer
• Biography of Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, Noted Italian Mathematician
• John Napier - Napier's Bones
• Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, Mathematical Genius
• Biography of John Napier, Scottish Mathematician
• Leonhard Euler, Mathematician: His Life and Work
• Biography of John Lee Love, Portable Pencil Sharpener Inventor

Famous Scientists

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton is perhaps the greatest physicist who has ever lived. He and Albert Einstein are almost equally matched contenders for this title.

Each of these great scientists produced dramatic and startling transformations in the physical laws we believe our universe obeys, changing the way we understand and relate to the world around us.

Early Life and Education

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in the tiny village of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England.

His father, whose name was also Isaac Newton, was a farmer who died before Isaac Junior was born. Although comfortable financially, his father could not read or write.

His mother, Hannah Ayscough, married a churchman when Newton was three years old.

Newton disliked his mother’s new husband and did not join their household, living instead with his mother’s mother, Margery Ayscough.

His resentment of his mother and stepfather’s new life did not subside with time; as a teenager he threatened to burn their house down!

Beginning at age 12, Newton attended The King’s School, Grantham, where he was taught the classics, but no science or mathematics. When he was 17, his mother stopped his schooling so that he could become a farmer. Fortunately for the future of science Newton found he had neither aptitude nor liking for farming; his mother allowed him to return to school, where he finished as top student.

Servant and Undergraduate

In June 1661, age 18, Newton began studying for a law degree at Cambridge University’s Trinity College, earning money as a personal servant to wealthier students.

By the time he was a third-year student he was spending much of his time studying mathematics and natural philosophy (today we call it physics). He was also fascinated by alchemy, which is now categorized as a pseudoscience.

His natural philosophy lecturers based their courses on Aristotle’s incorrect ideas from Ancient Greek times. This was despite the fact that 25 years earlier, in 1638, Galileo Galilei had established a new scientific basis for the physics of motion with his masterpiece Two New Sciences .

Newton began to disregard the material taught at his college, preferring to study the recent (and more scientifically correct) works of Galileo, Boyle, Descartes, and Kepler. He wrote:

Reading the works of these great scientists, Newton grew more ambitious about making his own discoveries. While still working part-time as a servant, he wrote a note to himself. In it he posed questions not yet been answered by science. These included questions about gravity, the nature of light, the nature of color and vision, and atoms.

After three years at Cambridge, he won a four-year scholarship. This allowed him to give up working as a servant and devote his time fully to academic studies.

A Mind on Fire

In 1665, at age 22, a year after beginning his four-year scholarship, Newton made his first major discovery: this was in mathematics, where he discovered the generalized binomial theorem. He was awarded his B.A. degree in the same year.

By now his mind was ablaze with new ideas. He began making significant progress in three distinct fields – he would make some of his most profound discoveries in these fields:

• calculus, the mathematics of change, which is vital to our understanding of the world around us
• optics and the behavior of light

He did much of his work on these topics back home at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth after the Great Plague forced Cambridge colleges to close.

Fellow and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

At age 24, in 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge, where events moved quickly.

First he was elected as a fellow of Trinity College.

A year later, in 1668, he was awarded an M.A. degree.

A year after that, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College, Isaac Barrow, resigned and Newton was appointed as his replacement; he was just 26 years old. Barrow, who had recommended Newton to succeed him, said of him:

Isaac Newton’s Scientific Achievements and Discoveries

Achievements in brief.

Isaac Newton, who was largely self-taught in mathematics and physics:

• generalized the binomial theorem
• showed that sunlight is made up of all of the colors of the rainbow. He used one glass prism to split a beam of sunlight into its separate colors, then another prism to recombine the rainbow colors to make a beam of white light again.
• built the world’s first working reflecting telescope.
• discovered/invented calculus, the mathematics of change, without which we could not understand the behavior of objects as tiny as electrons or as large as galaxies.
• wrote the Principia , one of the most important scientific books ever written; in it he used mathematics to explain gravity and motion. ( Principia is pronounced with a hard c.)
• discovered the law of universal gravitation, proving that the force holding the moon in orbit around the earth is the same force that causes an apple to fall from a tree.
• formulated his three laws of motion – Newton’s Laws – which lie at the heart of the science of movement.
• showed that Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are special cases of Newton’s universal gravitation.
• proved that all objects moving through space under the influence of gravity must follow a path shaped in the form of one of the conic sections, such as a circle, an ellipse, or a parabola, hence explaining the paths all planets and comets follow.
• showed that the tides are caused by gravitational interactions between the earth, the moon, and the sun.
• predicted, correctly, that the earth is not perfectly spherical but is squashed into an oblate spheroid, larger around the equator than around the poles.
• Used mathematics to model the movement of fluids – from which the concept of a Newtonian fluid comes.
• devised Newton’s Method for finding the roots of mathematical functions.

Some Details about Newton’s Greatest Discoveries

Newton revealed his laws of motion and gravitation in his book the Principia . Just as few people at first could understand Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, few people understood the Principia . When Newton walked past them one day, one student remarked to another:

“There goes a man who has written a book that neither he nor anybody else understands.”

Newton’s ideas were spread by the small number of people who understood the Principia , and who were able to develop and convey its message in more accessible ways: people including Colin Maclaurin, Leonhard Euler , Joseph Louis Lagrange, Pierre Simon de Laplace, Willem Jacob’s Gravesande, William Whiston, John Theophilus Desaguliers, and David Gregory.

Newton was the first person to fully develop calculus. Calculus is the mathematics of change. Modern physics and physical chemistry would be impossible without it. Other academic disciplines such as biology and economics also rely heavily on calculus for analysis.

In his development of calculus Newton was influenced by Pierre de Fermat , who had shown specific examples in which calculus-like methods could be used. Newton was able to build on Fermat’s work and generalize calculus. Newton wrote that he had been guided by:

From Newton’s fertile mind came the ideas that we now call differential calculus, integral calculus, and differential equations.

Soon after Newton generalized calculus, Gottfried Leibniz achieved the same result. Today, most mathematicians give equal credit to Newton and Leibniz for calculus’s discovery.

Universal Gravitation and the Apple

He told people that seeing the apple’s fall made him wonder why it fell in a straight line towards the center of our planet rather than moving upwards or sideways.

Ultimately, he realized and proved that the force behind the apple’s fall also causes the moon to orbit the earth; and comets, the earth and other planets to orbit the sun. The force is felt throughout the universe, so Newton called it Universal Gravitation . In a nutshell, it says that mass attracts mass.

Newton discovered the equation that allows us to calculate the force of gravity between two objects.

Most people don’t like equations much: E = mc 2 is as much as they can stand, but, for the record, here’s Newton’s equation:

Newton’s equation says that you can calculate the gravitational force attracting one object to another by multiplying the masses of the two objects by the gravitational constant and dividing by the square of the distance between the objects’ centers.

Dividing by distance squared means Newton’s Law is an inverse-square law .

Newton proved mathematically that any object moving in space affected by an inverse-square law will follow a path in the shape of one of the conic sections, the shapes which fascinated Archimedes and other Ancient Greek mathematicians.

For example, planets follow elliptical paths; while comets follow elliptical, or parabolic or hyperbolic paths.

And that’s it! Newton showed everyone how, if they wished to, they could calculate the force of gravity between things such as people, planets, stars, and apples.

Newton’s Laws of Motion

Third Law: The rocket flies because of the upward thrust it gets as a reaction to the high speed gas particles pushing downward from its engines.

First law: Objects remain stationary or move at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. This law was actually first stated by Galileo , whose influence Newton mentions several times in the Principia .

Second law: The force F on an object is equal to its mass m multiplied by its acceleration: F = ma.

Third law: When one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts a force equal in size and opposite in direction on the first object.

With Newton’s calculus, universal gravitation, and laws of motion, you have enough knowledge at your fingertips to plot a course for a spaceship to any planet in our solar system or even another solar system!

And Isaac Newton figured it all out about 300 years before we actually did send a spaceship to the planets.

A Word of Caution Newton’s laws become increasingly inaccurate when speeds reach substantial fractions of the speed of light, or when the force of gravity is very large. Einstein’s equations are then required to produce reliable results.

Optics and Light

Newton was not just clever with his mind. He was also skilled in experimental methods and working with equipment.

He built the world’s first reflecting telescope. This telescope focuses light from a curved mirror. Reflecting telescopes have several advantages over earlier telescopes including:

• they are cheaper to make
• they are easier to make in large sizes, gathering more light, allowing higher magnification
• they do not suffer from a focusing issue associated with lenses called chromatic aberration.

Newton also used glass prisms to establish that white light is not a simple phenomenon. He proved that it is made up of all of the colors of the rainbow, which could recombine to form white light again.

Newton’s crucial 1672 experiment with two prisms. The result absolutely demolished competing theories, such as the proposal that glass added the colors to sunlight.

Alchemy, Feuds, Religion, and Planets Orbiting Distant Stars

Although he is one of the greatest scientists in history, Newton’s laboratory papers show he probably devoted more of his time to alchemy than to anything we would recognize as science.

The Alchemist by Joseph Wright depicts Hennig Brand’s discovery of phosphorus. Brand was actually trying to discover the Philosophers’ Stone. Newton seems to have put more of his hours into alchemy than mathematics and physics.

Not surprisingly, Newton never found the Philosophers’ Stone. Given his towering contributions to real science, all we can do is wonder what else he might have achieved if he had not been such a passionate alchemist.

Despite his brilliance, Newton was a very insecure man: most historians trace this back to his childhood family difficulties.

Newton published very little work until his later years, because in his early years as a scientist, Robert Hooke disagreed strongly with a scientific paper Newton published. Newton took criticism of his work in a very personal way and developed a lifelong loathing for Hooke.

His lack of published work also caused a huge issue when Gottfried Leibniz starting publishing his own version of calculus. Newton was already a master of this branch of mathematics, but had published very little of it. Again Newton’s insecurity got the better of him, and he angrily accused Leibniz of stealing his work. The pros and cons of each man’s case have long been debated by historians. Most mathematicians regard Newton and Leibniz as equally responsible for the development of calculus.

Newton was a very religious man with somewhat unorthodox Protestant Christian views. He spent a great deal of time and wrote a large body of private works concerned with theology and his interpretation of the Bible.

His scientific work had revealed a universe that obeyed logical mathematical laws. He had also discovered that starlight and sunlight are the same, and he speculated that stars could have their own systems of planets orbiting them. He believed such a system could only have been made by God.

In 1696, Newton was appointed as a Warden of the Royal Mint. In 1700, he became Master of the Mint, leaving Cambridge for London, and more or less ending his scientific discovery work. He took his new role very seriously, going out into London’s taverns in disguise gathering evidence against counterfeiters.

In 1703, he was elected President of the Royal Society.

In 1705, he was knighted, becoming Sir Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton died on March 31, 1727, age 84. He had never married and had no children.

He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

Author of this page: The Doc Images of Newton and Barrow enhanced and colorized by this website. © All rights reserved.

Cite this Page

Please use the following MLA compliant citation:

Published by FamousScientists.org

More from FamousScientists.org:

Alphabetical List of Scientists

Louis Agassiz | Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Al-Battani Abu Nasr Al-Farabi | Alhazen | Jim Al-Khalili | Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi | Mihailo Petrovic Alas | Angel Alcala | Salim Ali | Luis Alvarez | Andre Marie Ampère | Anaximander | Carl Anderson | Mary Anning | Virginia Apgar | Archimedes | Agnes Arber | Aristarchus | Aristotle | Svante Arrhenius | Oswald Avery | Amedeo Avogadro | Avicenna

Charles Babbage | Francis Bacon | Alexander Bain | John Logie Baird | Joseph Banks | Ramon Barba | John Bardeen | Charles Barkla | Ibn Battuta | William Bayliss | George Beadle | Arnold Orville Beckman | Henri Becquerel | Emil Adolf Behring | Alexander Graham Bell | Emile Berliner | Claude Bernard | Timothy John Berners-Lee | Daniel Bernoulli | Jacob Berzelius | Henry Bessemer | Hans Bethe | Homi Jehangir Bhabha | Alfred Binet | Clarence Birdseye | Kristian Birkeland | James Black | Elizabeth Blackwell | Alfred Blalock | Katharine Burr Blodgett | Franz Boas | David Bohm | Aage Bohr | Niels Bohr | Ludwig Boltzmann | Max Born | Carl Bosch | Robert Bosch | Jagadish Chandra Bose | Satyendra Nath Bose | Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe | Robert Boyle | Lawrence Bragg | Tycho Brahe | Brahmagupta | Hennig Brand | Georg Brandt | Wernher Von Braun | J Harlen Bretz | Louis de Broglie | Alexander Brongniart | Robert Brown | Michael E. Brown | Lester R. Brown | Eduard Buchner | Linda Buck | William Buckland | Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | Robert Bunsen | Luther Burbank | Jocelyn Bell Burnell | Macfarlane Burnet | Thomas Burnet

Benjamin Cabrera | Santiago Ramon y Cajal | Rachel Carson | George Washington Carver | Henry Cavendish | Anders Celsius | James Chadwick | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | Erwin Chargaff | Noam Chomsky | Steven Chu | Leland Clark | John Cockcroft | Arthur Compton | Nicolaus Copernicus | Gerty Theresa Cori | Charles-Augustin de Coulomb | Jacques Cousteau | Brian Cox | Francis Crick | James Croll | Nicholas Culpeper | Marie Curie | Pierre Curie | Georges Cuvier | Adalbert Czerny

Gottlieb Daimler | John Dalton | James Dwight Dana | Charles Darwin | Humphry Davy | Peter Debye | Max Delbruck | Jean Andre Deluc | Democritus | René Descartes | Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel | Diophantus | Paul Dirac | Prokop Divis | Theodosius Dobzhansky | Frank Drake | K. Eric Drexler

John Eccles | Arthur Eddington | Thomas Edison | Paul Ehrlich | Albert Einstein | Gertrude Elion | Empedocles | Eratosthenes | Euclid | Eudoxus | Leonhard Euler

Michael Faraday | Pierre de Fermat | Enrico Fermi | Richard Feynman | Fibonacci – Leonardo of Pisa | Emil Fischer | Ronald Fisher | Alexander Fleming | John Ambrose Fleming | Howard Florey | Henry Ford | Lee De Forest | Dian Fossey | Leon Foucault | Benjamin Franklin | Rosalind Franklin | Sigmund Freud | Elizebeth Smith Friedman

Galen | Galileo Galilei | Francis Galton | Luigi Galvani | George Gamow | Martin Gardner | Carl Friedrich Gauss | Murray Gell-Mann | Sophie Germain | Willard Gibbs | William Gilbert | Sheldon Lee Glashow | Robert Goddard | Maria Goeppert-Mayer | Thomas Gold | Jane Goodall | Stephen Jay Gould | Otto von Guericke

Fritz Haber | Ernst Haeckel | Otto Hahn | Albrecht von Haller | Edmund Halley | Alister Hardy | Thomas Harriot | William Harvey | Stephen Hawking | Otto Haxel | Werner Heisenberg | Hermann von Helmholtz | Jan Baptist von Helmont | Joseph Henry | Caroline Herschel | John Herschel | William Herschel | Gustav Ludwig Hertz | Heinrich Hertz | Karl F. Herzfeld | George de Hevesy | Antony Hewish | David Hilbert | Maurice Hilleman | Hipparchus | Hippocrates | Shintaro Hirase | Dorothy Hodgkin | Robert Hooke | Frederick Gowland Hopkins | William Hopkins | Grace Murray Hopper | Frank Hornby | Jack Horner | Bernardo Houssay | Fred Hoyle | Edwin Hubble | Alexander von Humboldt | Zora Neale Hurston | James Hutton | Christiaan Huygens | Hypatia

Ernesto Illy | Jan Ingenhousz | Ernst Ising | Keisuke Ito

Mae Carol Jemison | Edward Jenner | J. Hans D. Jensen | Irene Joliot-Curie | James Prescott Joule | Percy Lavon Julian

Michio Kaku | Heike Kamerlingh Onnes | Pyotr Kapitsa | Friedrich August Kekulé | Frances Kelsey | Pearl Kendrick | Johannes Kepler | Abdul Qadeer Khan | Omar Khayyam | Alfred Kinsey | Gustav Kirchoff | Martin Klaproth | Robert Koch | Emil Kraepelin | Thomas Kuhn | Stephanie Kwolek

Joseph-Louis Lagrange | Jean-Baptiste Lamarck | Hedy Lamarr | Edwin Herbert Land | Karl Landsteiner | Pierre-Simon Laplace | Max von Laue | Antoine Lavoisier | Ernest Lawrence | Henrietta Leavitt | Antonie van Leeuwenhoek | Inge Lehmann | Gottfried Leibniz | Georges Lemaître | Leonardo da Vinci | Niccolo Leoniceno | Aldo Leopold | Rita Levi-Montalcini | Claude Levi-Strauss | Willard Frank Libby | Justus von Liebig | Carolus Linnaeus | Joseph Lister | John Locke | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz | Konrad Lorenz | Ada Lovelace | Percival Lowell | Lucretius | Charles Lyell | Trofim Lysenko

Ernst Mach | Marcello Malpighi | Jane Marcet | Guglielmo Marconi | Lynn Margulis | Barry Marshall | Polly Matzinger | Matthew Maury | James Clerk Maxwell | Ernst Mayr | Barbara McClintock | Lise Meitner | Gregor Mendel | Dmitri Mendeleev | Franz Mesmer | Antonio Meucci | John Michell | Albert Abraham Michelson | Thomas Midgeley Jr. | Milutin Milankovic | Maria Mitchell | Mario Molina | Thomas Hunt Morgan | Samuel Morse | Henry Moseley

Ukichiro Nakaya | John Napier | Giulio Natta | John Needham | John von Neumann | Thomas Newcomen | Isaac Newton | Charles Nicolle | Florence Nightingale | Tim Noakes | Alfred Nobel | Emmy Noether | Christiane Nusslein-Volhard | Bill Nye

Hans Christian Oersted | Georg Ohm | J. Robert Oppenheimer | Wilhelm Ostwald | William Oughtred

Blaise Pascal | Louis Pasteur | Wolfgang Ernst Pauli | Linus Pauling | Randy Pausch | Ivan Pavlov | Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin | Wilder Penfield | Marguerite Perey | William Perkin | John Philoponus | Jean Piaget | Philippe Pinel | Max Planck | Pliny the Elder | Henri Poincaré | Karl Popper | Beatrix Potter | Joseph Priestley | Proclus | Claudius Ptolemy | Pythagoras

Adolphe Quetelet | Harriet Quimby | Thabit ibn Qurra

C. V. Raman | Srinivasa Ramanujan | William Ramsay | John Ray | Prafulla Chandra Ray | Francesco Redi | Sally Ride | Bernhard Riemann | Wilhelm Röntgen | Hermann Rorschach | Ronald Ross | Ibn Rushd | Ernest Rutherford

Carl Sagan | Abdus Salam | Jonas Salk | Frederick Sanger | Alberto Santos-Dumont | Walter Schottky | Erwin Schrödinger | Theodor Schwann | Glenn Seaborg | Hans Selye | Charles Sherrington | Gene Shoemaker | Ernst Werner von Siemens | George Gaylord Simpson | B. F. Skinner | William Smith | Frederick Soddy | Mary Somerville | Arnold Sommerfeld | Hermann Staudinger | Nicolas Steno | Nettie Stevens | William John Swainson | Leo Szilard

Niccolo Tartaglia | Edward Teller | Nikola Tesla | Thales of Miletus | Theon of Alexandria | Benjamin Thompson | J. J. Thomson | William Thomson | Henry David Thoreau | Kip S. Thorne | Clyde Tombaugh | Susumu Tonegawa | Evangelista Torricelli | Charles Townes | Youyou Tu | Alan Turing | Neil deGrasse Tyson

Harold Urey

Craig Venter | Vladimir Vernadsky | Andreas Vesalius | Rudolf Virchow | Artturi Virtanen | Alessandro Volta

Selman Waksman | George Wald | Alfred Russel Wallace | John Wallis | Ernest Walton | James Watson | James Watt | Alfred Wegener | John Archibald Wheeler | Maurice Wilkins | Thomas Willis | E. O. Wilson | Sven Wingqvist | Sergei Winogradsky | Carl Woese | Friedrich Wöhler | Wilbur and Orville Wright | Wilhelm Wundt

Chen-Ning Yang

Ahmed Zewail

• +44 1223 335999
• [email protected]
• @Newtoninstitute
• Institute A-Z
• How to participate
• Who was Isaac Newton?

Isaac Newton’s Life

• A brief history
• Short films
• Testimonials
• Art & artefacts
• Vacancies at INI
• Green Impact

Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for their contribution to our site.  The following information came from Microsoft Encarta.

I  INTRODUCTION

Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), mathematician and physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time. Born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, where he attended school, he entered Cambridge University in 1661; he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1667, and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. He remained at the university, lecturing in most years, until 1696. Of these Cambridge years, in which Newton was at the height of his creative power, he singled out 1665-1666 (spent largely in Lincolnshire because of plague in Cambridge) as “the prime of my age for invention”. During two to three years of intense mental effort he prepared  Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica  ( Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy ) commonly known as the  Principia,  although this was not published until 1687.

As a firm opponent of the attempt by King James II to make the universities into Catholic institutions, Newton was elected Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge to the Convention Parliament of 1689, and sat again in 1701-1702. Meanwhile, in 1696 he had moved to London as Warden of the Royal Mint. He became Master of the Mint in 1699, an office he retained to his death. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1671, and in 1703 he became President, being annually re-elected for the rest of his life. His major work,  Opticks,  appeared the next year; he was knighted in Cambridge in 1705.

As Newtonian science became increasingly accepted on the Continent, and especially after a general peace was restored in 1714, following the War of the Spanish Succession, Newton became the most highly esteemed natural philosopher in Europe. His last decades were passed in revising his major works, polishing his studies of ancient history, and defending himself against critics, as well as carrying out his official duties. Newton was modest, diffident, and a man of simple tastes. He was angered by criticism or opposition, and harboured resentment; he was harsh towards enemies but generous to friends. In government, and at the Royal Society, he proved an able administrator. He never married and lived modestly, but was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey.

Newton has been regarded for almost 300 years as the founding examplar of modern physical science, his achievements in experimental investigation being as innovative as those in mathematical research. With equal, if not greater, energy and originality he also plunged into chemistry, the early history of Western civilization, and theology; among his special studies was an investigation of the form and dimensions, as described in the Bible, of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

In 1664, while still a student, Newton read recent work on optics and light by the English physicists Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke; he also studied both the mathematics and the physics of the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes. He investigated the refraction of light by a glass prism; developing over a few years a series of increasingly elaborate, refined, and exact experiments, Newton discovered measurable, mathematical patterns in the phenomenon of colour. He found white light to be a mixture of infinitely varied coloured rays (manifest in the rainbow and the spectrum), each ray definable by the angle through which it is refracted on entering or leaving a given transparent medium. He correlated this notion with his study of the interference colours of thin films (for example, of oil on water, or soap bubbles), using a simple technique of extreme acuity to measure the thickness of such films. He held that light consisted of streams of minute particles. From his experiments he could infer the magnitudes of the transparent “corpuscles” forming the surfaces of bodies, which, according to their dimensions, so interacted with white light as to reflect, selectively, the different observed colours of those surfaces.

The roots of these unconventional ideas were with Newton by about 1668; when first expressed (tersely and partially) in public in 1672 and 1675, they provoked hostile criticism, mainly because colours were thought to be modified forms of homogeneous white light. Doubts, and Newton’s rejoinders, were printed in the learned journals. Notably, the scepticism of Christiaan Huygens and the failure of the French physicist Edmé Mariotte to duplicate Newton’s refraction experiments in 1681 set scientists on the Continent against him for a generation. The publication of  Opticks,  largely written by 1692, was delayed by Newton until the critics were dead. The book was still imperfect: the colours of diffraction defeated Newton. Nevertheless,  Opticks  established itself, from about 1715, as a model of the interweaving of theory with quantitative experimentation.

III  MATHEMATICS

In mathematics too, early brilliance appeared in Newton’s student notes. He may have learnt geometry at school, though he always spoke of himself as self-taught; certainly he advanced through studying the writings of his compatriots William Oughtred and John Wallis, and of Descartes and the Dutch school. Newton made contributions to all branches of mathematics then studied, but is especially famous for his solutions to the contemporary problems in analytical geometry of drawing tangents to curves (differentiation) and defining areas bounded by curves (integration). Not only did Newton discover that these problems were inverse to each other, but he discovered general methods of resolving problems of curvature, embraced in his “method of fluxions” and “inverse method of fluxions”, respectively equivalent to Leibniz’s later differential and integral calculus. Newton used the term “fluxion” (from Latin meaning “flow”) because he imagined a quantity “flowing” from one magnitude to another. Fluxions were expressed algebraically, as Leibniz’s differentials were, but Newton made extensive use also (especially in the  Principia ) of analogous geometrical arguments. Late in life, Newton expressed regret for the algebraic style of recent mathematical progress, preferring the geometrical method of the Classical Greeks, which he regarded as clearer and more rigorous.

Newton’s work on pure mathematics was virtually hidden from all but his correspondents until 1704, when he published, with  Opticks , a tract on the quadrature of curves (integration) and another on the classification of the cubic curves. His Cambridge lectures, delivered from about 1673 to 1683, were published in 1707.

The Calculus Priority Dispute

Newton had the essence of the methods of fluxions by 1666. The first to become known, privately, to other mathematicians, in 1668, was his method of integration by infinite series. In Paris in 1675 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently evolved the first ideas of his differential calculus, outlined to Newton in 1677. Newton had already described some of his mathematical discoveries to Leibniz, not including his method of fluxions. In 1684 Leibniz published his first paper on calculus; a small group of mathematicians took up his ideas.

In the 1690s Newton’s friends proclaimed the priority of Newton’s methods of fluxions. Supporters of Leibniz asserted that he had communicated the differential method to Newton, although Leibniz had claimed no such thing. Newtonians then asserted, rightly, that Leibniz had seen papers of Newton’s during a London visit in 1676; in reality, Leibniz had taken no notice of material on fluxions. A violent dispute sprang up, part public, part private, extended by Leibniz to attacks on Newton’s theory of gravitation and his ideas about God and creation; it was not ended even by Leibniz’s death in 1716. The dispute delayed the reception of Newtonian science on the Continent, and dissuaded British mathematicians from sharing the researches of Continental colleagues for a century.

IV  MECHANICS AND GRAVITATION

According to the well-known story, it was on seeing an apple fall in his orchard at some time during 1665 or 1666 that Newton conceived that the same force governed the motion of the Moon and the apple. He calculated the force needed to hold the Moon in its orbit, as compared with the force pulling an object to the ground. He also calculated the centripetal force needed to hold a stone in a sling, and the relation between the length of a pendulum and the time of its swing. These early explorations were not soon exploited by Newton, though he studied astronomy and the problems of planetary motion.

Correspondence with Hooke (1679-1680) redirected Newton to the problem of the path of a body subjected to a centrally directed force that varies as the inverse square of the distance; he determined it to be an ellipse, so informing Edmond Halley in August 1684. Halley’s interest led Newton to demonstrate the relationship afresh, to compose a brief tract on mechanics, and finally to write the  Principia.

Book I of the  Principia  states the foundations of the science of mechanics, developing upon them the mathematics of orbital motion round centres of force. Newton identified gravitation as the fundamental force controlling the motions of the celestial bodies. He never found its cause. To contemporaries who found the idea of attractions across empty space unintelligible, he conceded that they might prove to be caused by the impacts of unseen particles.

Book II inaugurates the theory of fluids: Newton solves problems of fluids in movement and of motion through fluids. From the density of air he calculated the speed of sound waves.

Book III shows the law of gravitation at work in the universe: Newton demonstrates it from the revolutions of the six known planets, including the Earth, and their satellites. However, he could never quite perfect the difficult theory of the Moon’s motion. Comets were shown to obey the same law; in later editions, Newton added conjectures on the possibility of their return. He calculated the relative masses of heavenly bodies from their gravitational forces, and the oblateness of Earth and Jupiter, already observed. He explained tidal ebb and flow and the precession of the equinoxes from the forces exerted by the Sun and Moon. All this was done by exact computation.

Newton’s work in mechanics was accepted at once in Britain, and universally after half a century. Since then it has been ranked among humanity’s greatest achievements in abstract thought. It was extended and perfected by others, notably Pierre Simon de Laplace, without changing its basis and it survived into the late 19th century before it began to show signs of failing.  See  Quantum Theory; Relativity.

V  ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY

Newton left a mass of manuscripts on the subjects of alchemy and chemistry, then closely related topics. Most of these were extracts from books, bibliographies, dictionaries, and so on, but a few are original. He began intensive experimentation in 1669, continuing till he left Cambridge, seeking to unravel the meaning that he hoped was hidden in alchemical obscurity and mysticism. He sought understanding of the nature and structure of all matter, formed from the “solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles” that he believed God had created. Most importantly in the “Queries” appended to “Opticks” and in the essay “On the Nature of Acids” (1710), Newton published an incomplete theory of chemical force, concealing his exploration of the alchemists, which became known a century after his death.

VI  HISTORICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL STUDIES

Newton owned more books on humanistic learning than on mathematics and science; all his life he studied them deeply. His unpublished “classical scholia”—explanatory notes intended for use in a future edition of the  Principia —reveal his knowledge of pre-Socratic philosophy; he read the Fathers of the Church even more deeply. Newton sought to reconcile Greek mythology and record with the Bible, considered the prime authority on the early history of mankind. In his work on chronology he undertook to make Jewish and pagan dates compatible, and to fix them absolutely from an astronomical argument about the earliest constellation figures devised by the Greeks. He put the fall of Troy at 904 BC, about 500 years later than other scholars; this was not well received.

VII  RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS AND PERSONALITY

Newton also wrote on Judaeo-Christian prophecy, whose decipherment was essential, he thought, to the understanding of God. His book on the subject, which was reprinted well into the Victorian Age, represented lifelong study. Its message was that Christianity went astray in the 4th century AD, when the first Council of Nicaea propounded erroneous doctrines of the nature of Christ. The full extent of Newton’s unorthodoxy was recognized only in the present century: but although a critic of accepted Trinitarian dogmas and the Council of Nicaea, he possessed a deep religious sense, venerated the Bible and accepted its account of creation. In late editions of his scientific works he expressed a strong sense of God’s providential role in nature.

VIII  PUBLICATIONS

Newton published an edition of  Geographia generalis  by the German geographer Varenius in 1672. His own letters on optics appeared in print from 1672 to 1676. Then he published nothing until the  Principia  (published in Latin in 1687; revised in 1713 and 1726; and translated into English in 1729). This was followed by  Opticks  in 1704; a revised edition in Latin appeared in 1706. Posthumously published writings include  The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended  (1728),  The System of the World  (1728), the first draft of Book III of the  Principia , and  Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John  (1733).

Contributed By: Alfred Rupert Hall

“Sir Isaac Newton” Microsoft® Encarta®. Copyright © 1998 Microsoft Corporation.

Supported By

Register for updates

Subscribe for the latest updates on events and news

• Solidarity for mathematicians
• INI Retreats
• Programmes & Workshops
• Calendar of activities
• Network Support for the Mathematical Sciences
• Fellowships
• Submit a proposal
• List of current visitors
• Accommodation
• IT Services
• Library services
• Support services
• Code of behaviour
• Log in to ISAAC
• INI EDI Action Plan 2023-2028
• Annual Reports
• Programme Reports
• Data policies
• Case studies
• Ongoing initiatives
• Initiatives archive
• Diversity in mathematics
• Latest news
• Programme poster PDFs
• Living Proof podcast
• Plus magazine articles
• Video interviews
• Recordings archive
• Donate online
• Campaign Committee
• Meet the team
• How to find us
• Opening hours

Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 20 Clarkson Road, Cambridge CB3 0EH United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1223 335999 Email: [email protected]

© 2024 Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy

Web Design by Chameleon Studios

INI is a creative collaborative space which is occupied by up to fifty-five mathematical scientists at any one time (and many more when there is a workshop). Some of them may not have met before and others may not realise the relevance of other research to their own work.

INI is especially important as a forum where early-career researchers meet senior colleagues and form networks that last a lifetime.

Here you can learn about all activities past, present and future, watch live seminars and submit your own proposals for research programmes.

• Programme Archive
• Workshop Archive
• Workspace at INI
• Today’s Seminars
• Future Seminars
• Seminars Archive
• Rothschild Distinguished Visiting Fellows
• Kirk Distinguished Visiting Fellows
• Ramanujan Fellowships
• INI Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics

Within this section of the website you should find all the information required to arrange and plan your visit to the Institute. If you have any further questions, or are unable to find the information you require, please get in touch with the relevant staff member or our Reception team via our contact pages.

• 7 Charles Babbage Road
• Benians Court Flats
• Contact IT support
• Visitors with a disability
• Participants from developing countries
• Travel expenses

INI and its programme participants produce a range of publications to communicate information about activities and events, publish research outcomes, and document case studies which are written for a non-technical audience. You will find access to them all in this section.

The Isaac Newton Institute aims to maximise the benefit of its scientific programmes to the UK mathematical science community in a variety of ways.

Whether spreading research opportunities through its network of correspondents, offering summer schools to early career researchers, or hosting public-facing lectures through events such as the Cambridge Festival, there is always a great deal of activity to catch up on.

Find out about all of these endeavours in this section of the site.

• Correspondents network
• Talks elsewhere
• Cambridge Festival
• Open for Business
• Summer Schools
• Academy for the Mathematical Sciences
• Knowledge Exchange Hub for Mathematical Sciences
• INI 30th Anniversary
• INI 25th Anniversary
• Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013
• INI 20th Anniversary
• IMAGINARY: Through the eyes of mathematics
• INI 10th Anniversary
• Posters in the London Underground
• EPDI for Mathematical Sciences
• Advent Blackboards
• Summer Maths Puzzles
• UK Sea Ice Group

There are various ways to keep up-to-date with current events and happenings at the Isaac Newton Institute. As detailed via the menu links within this section, our output covers social media streams, news articles, a regular podcast series, an online newsletter, and more detailed documents produced throughout the year.

“A world famous place for research in the mathematical sciences with a reputation for efficient management and a warm welcome for visitors”

The Isaac Newton Institute is a national and international visitor research institute. It runs research programmes on selected themes in mathematics and the mathematical sciences with applications over a wide range of science and technology. It attracts leading mathematical scientists from the UK and overseas to interact in research over an extended period.

INI has a vital national role, building on many strengths that already exist in UK universities, aiming to generate a new vitality through stimulating and nurturing research throughout the country.During each scientific programme new collaborations are made and ideas and expertise are exchanged and catalysed through lectures, seminars and informal interaction, which the INI building has been designed specifically to encourage.

For INI’s knowledge exchange arm, please see the Newton Gateway to Mathematics .

• Scientific Steering committee
• Relationship with ICMS
• Management committee
• National Advisory Board
• Policy Statement
• Books about Sir Isaac Newton
• Isaac Newton’s Life

The Institute depends upon donations, as well as research grants, to support the world class research undertaken by participants in its programmes.

Fundraising activities are supported by a Development Board comprising leading figures in academia, industry and commerce.

Visit this section to learn more about how you could play a part in supporting INI’s groundbreaking research.

In this section you can find contact information, staff lists, maps and details of how to find INI’s main building in Cambridge.

Our administrative staff can help you with any queries regarding a prospective or planned visit. If you would like to discuss a proposed a research programme or other event, our senior management team will be happy to help.

Search the website

Use this for pages on our website, including: visitor information, details about INI, fellowships, history, outreach, news, podcasts and more.

Search the database

Use this for information about INI programmes, workshops, seminars, pre-prints, and participants.

 MacTutor

Isaac newton.

Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.

... setting my heart on money, learning, and pleasure more than Thee ...

... changed his mind when he read that parallelograms upon the same base and between the same parallels are equal.

Thus Wallis doth it, but it may be done thus ...

[ Newton ] brought me the other day some papers, wherein he set down methods of calculating the dimensions of magnitudes like that of Mr Mercator concerning the hyperbola, but very general; as also of resolving equations; which I suppose will please you; and I shall send you them by the next.

... having no more acquaintance with him I did not think it becoming to urge him to communicate anything.

• investigations of the colours of thin sheets
• 'Newton's rings' and
• diffraction of light.

... that the Attraction always is in a duplicate proportion to the Distance from the Center Reciprocall ...

After his 1679 correspondence with Hooke , Newton, by his own account, found a proof that Kepler's areal law was a consequence of centripetal forces, and he also showed that if the orbital curve is an ellipse under the action of central forces then the radial dependence of the force is inverse square with the distance from the centre.

... asked Newton what orbit a body followed under an inverse square force, and Newton replied immediately that it would be an ellipse. However in 'De Motu..' he only gave a proof of the converse theorem that if the orbit is an ellipse the force is inverse square. The proof that inverse square forces imply conic section orbits is sketched in Cor. 1 to Prop. 13 in Book 1 of the second and third editions of the 'Principia', but not in the first edition.

... all matter attracts all other matter with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Be courageous and steady to the Laws and you cannot fail.

Newton was of the most fearful, cautious and suspicious temper that I ever knew.

References ( show )

• I B Cohen, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography ( New York 1970 - 1990) . See THIS LINK .
• Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton
• E N da C Andrade, Isaac Newton ( New York, N. Y., 1950 , London, 1954) .
• Z Bechler, Newton's physics and the conceptual structure of the scientific revolution ( Dordrecht, 1991) .
• D Brewster, Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855 , reprinted 1965) (2 volumes ) .
• G Castelnuovo, Le origini del calcolo infinitesimale nell'era moderna, con scritti di Newton, Leibniz, Torricelli ( Milan, 1962) .
• S Chandrasekhar, Newton's 'Principia' for the common reader ( New York, 1995) .
• G E Christianson, In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times (1984) .
• I B Cohen, Introduction to Newton's 'Principia' ( Cambridge, Mass., 1971) .
• F Dessauer, Weltfahrt der Erkenntnis, Leben und Werk Isaac Newtons ( Zürich, 1945) .
• B J T Dobbs, and M C Jacob, Newton and the culture of Newtonianism. The Control of Nature ( Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1995) .
• J Fauvel ( ed. ) , Let Newton Be! ( New York, 1988) .
• J O Fleckenstein, Die hermetische Tradition in der Kosmologie Newtons. Newton and the Enlightenment, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 461 - 470 (1979) .
• F de Gandt, Force and geometry in Newton's 'Principia' ( Princeton, NJ, 1995) .
• D Gjertsen, The Newton Handbook ( London, 1986) .
• A R Hall, Isaac Newton, Adventurer in Thought ( Oxford, 1992) .
• J W Herivel, The background to Newton's 'Principia' : A study of Newton's dynamical researches in the years 1664 - 84 ( Oxford, 1965) .
• V Kartsev, Newton ( Russian ) , The Lives of Remarkable People. Biography Series ( Moscow, 1987) .
• J E McGuire and M Tamny, Certain philosophical questions : Newton's Trinity notebook ( Cambridge-New York, 1983) .
• D B Meli, Equivalence and priority : Newton versus Leibniz. Including Leibniz's unpublished manuscripts on the 'Principia' ( New York, 1993) .
• F Rosenberger, Isaac Newton und seine Physikalischen Principien ( Darmstadt, 1987) .
• H W Turnbull, The Mathematical Discoveries of Newton ( London, 1945) .
• R S Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1990) .
• R S Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton ( Cambridge, 1993) .
• H Wussing, Newton, in H Wussing and W Arnold, Biographien bedeutender Mathematiker ( Berlin, 1983) .
• J Agassi, The ideological import of Newton, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 419 - 430 .
• E J Aiton, The solution of the inverse-problem of central forces in Newton's 'Principia', Arch. Internat. Hist. Sci. 38 (121) (1988) , 271 - 276 .
• E J Aiton, The contributions of Isaac Newton, Johann Bernoulli and Jakob Hermann to the inverse problem of central forces, in Der Ausbau des Calculus durch Leibniz und die Brüder Bernoulli ( Wiesbaden, 1989) , 48 - 58 .
• E J Aiton, The contributions of Newton, Bernoulli and Euler to the theory of the tides, Ann. of Sci. 11 (1956) , 206 - 223 .
• E N da C Andrade, Newton and the science of his age, Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Ser. A 181 (1943) , 227 - 243 .
• S Aoki, The moon-test in Newton's 'Principia' : accuracy of inverse-square law of universal gravitation, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 44 (2) (1992) , 147 - 190 .
• V I Arnol'd, and V A Vasil'ev, Newton's 'Principia' read 300 years later, Notices Amer. Math. Soc. 36 (9) (1989) , 1148 - 1154 .
• R T W Arthur, Newton's fluxions and equably flowing time, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 26 (2) (1995) , 323 - 351 .
• K A Baird, Some influences upon the young Isaac Newton, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 41 (2) (1987) , 169 - 179 .
• M Bartolozzi and R Franci, A fragment of the history of algebra : Newton's rule on the number of imaginary roots in an algebraic equation ( Italian ) , Rend. Accad. Naz. Sci. XL Mem. Sci. Fis. Natur. (5) 14 (2 , II ) (1990) , 69 - 85 .
• P K Basu, Newton's physics in the context of his works on chemistry and alchemy, Indian J. Hist. Sci. 26 (3) (1991) , 283 - 305 .
• Z Bechler, Newton's ontology of the force of inertia, in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 287 - 304 .
• Z Bechler, Newton's law of forces which are inversely as the mass : a suggested interpretation of his later efforts to normalise a mechanistic model of optical dispersion, Centaurus 18 (1973 / 74) , 184 - 222 .
• Z Bechler, 'A less agreeable matter' : the disagreeable case of Newton and achromatic refraction, British J. Hist. Sci. 8 (29) (1975) , 101 - 126 .
• Z Bechler, Newton's search for a mechanistic model of colour dispersion : a suggested interpretation, Arch. History Exact Sci. 11 (1973 / 74) , 1 - 37 .
• E T Bell, Newton after three centuries, Amer. Math. Monthly 49 (1942) , 553 - 575 .
• D Bertoloni Meli, Public claims, private worries : Newton's 'Principia' and Leibniz's theory of planetary motion, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 22 (3) (1991) , 415 - 449 .
• T R Bingham, Newton and the development of the calculus, Pi Mu Epsilon J. 5 (1971) , 171 - 181 .
• J Blaquier, Sir Isaac Newton : The man and the mathematician ( Spanish ) , Anales Acad. Nac. Ci. Ex. Fis. Nat. Buenos Aires 12 (1947) , 9 - 32 .
• M Blay, Le traitement newtonien du mouvement des projectiles dans les milieux résistants, Rev. Histoire Sci. 40 (3 - 4) (1987) , 325 - 355 .
• M Blay, and G Barthélemy, Changements de repères chez Newton : le problème des deux corps dans les 'Principia', Arch. Internat. Hist. Sci. 34 (112) (1984) , 68 - 98 .
• C B Boyer, Newton as an originator of polar coördinates, Amer. Math. Monthly 56 (1949) , 73 - 78 .
• J B Brackenridge, The critical role of curvature in Newton's developing dynamics, in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 231 - 260 .
• J B Brackenridge, Newton's unpublished dynamical principles : a study in simplicity, Ann. of Sci. 47 (1) (1990) , 3 - 31 .
• J B Brackenridge, Newton's mature dynamics and the 'Principia' : a simplified solution to the Kepler problem, Historia Math. 16 (1) (1989) , 36 - 45 .
• J B Brackenridge, Newton's mature dynamics : revolutionary or reactionary?, Ann. of Sci. 45 (5) (1988) , 451 - 476 .
• W J Broad, Sir Isaac Newton : mad as a hatter, Science 213 (4514) (1981) , 1341 - 1344 .
• P Casini, Newton's 'Principia' and the philosophers of the Enlightenment : Newton's 'Principia' and its legacy, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 42 (1) (1988) , 35 - 52 .
• P Casini, Newton : the classical scholia, Hist. of Sci. 22 (55 , 1) (1984) , 1 - 58 .
• M Cernohorsk'y, The rotation in Newton's wording of his first law of motion, in Isaac Newton's 'Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica' ( Singapore, 1988) , 28 - 46 .
• S Chandrasekhar, Newton and Michelangelo, Current Sci. 67 (7) (1994) , 497 - 499 .
• S Chandrasekhar, On reading Newton's 'Principia' at age past eighty, Current Sci. 67 (7) (1994) , 495 - 496 .
• S Chandrasekhar, Shakespeare, Newton and Beethoven or patterns of creativity, Current Sci. 70 (9) (1996) , 810 - 822 .
• C A Chant, Isaac Newton : Born three hundred years ago, J. Roy. Astr. Soc. Canada 37 (1943) , 1 - 16 .
• C Christensen, Newton's method for resolving affected equations, College Math. J. 27 (5) (1996) , 330 - 340 .
• I B Cohen, Notes on Newton in the art and architecture of the Enlightenment, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 523 - 537 .
• I B Cohen, Newton's 'System of the world' : some textual and bibliographical notes, Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 11 (1 - 4) (1969) , 152 - 166 .
• I B Cohen, Isaac Newton, the calculus of variations, and the design of ships, in For Dirk Struik ( Dordrecht, 1974) , 169 - 187 .
• I B Cohen, Newton's description of the reflecting telescope, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 47 (1) (1993) , 1 - 9 .
• A Cook, Edmond Halley and Newton's 'Principia', Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 45 (2) (1991) , 129 - 138 .
• B P Copenhaver, Jewish theologies of space in the scientific revolution : Henry More, Joseph Raphson, Isaac Newton and their predecessors, Ann. of Sci. 37 (5) (1980) , 489 - 548 .
• P Costabel, Les 'Principia' de Newton et leurs colonnes d'Hercule, Rev. Histoire Sci. 40 (3 - 4) (1987) , 251 - 271 .
• G V Coyne, Newton's controversy with Leibniz over the invention of the calculus, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 109 - 115 .
• J T Cushing, Kepler's laws and universal gravitation in Newton's 'Principia', Amer. J. Phys. 50 (7) (1982) , 617 - 628 .
• S D'Agostino, On the problem of the redundancy of absolute motion in Newton's 'Principia', Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 25 (1) (1983) , 167 - 169 .
• S Débarbat, Newton, Halley et l'Observatoire de Paris, Rev. Histoire Sci. 39 (2) (1986) , 127 - 154 .
• E Dellian, Newton, die Trägheitskraft und die absolute Bewegung, Philos. Natur. 26 (2) (1989) , 192 - 201 .
• C Dilworth, Boyle, Hooke and Newton : some aspects of scientific collaboration, Rend. Accad. Naz. Sci. XL Mem. Sci. Fis. Natur. (5) 9 (1985) , 329 - 331 .
• R Dimitri'c, Sir Isaac Newton, Math. Intelligencer 13 (1) (1991) , 61 - 65 .
• B J T Dobbs, Newton as final cause and first mover, Isis 85 (4) (1994) , 633 - 643 .
• M J Duck, Newton and Goethe on colour : physical and physiological considerations, Ann. of Sci. 45 (5) (1988) , 507 - 519 .
• R Duda, Newton and the mathematical concept of space, in Isaac Newton's 'Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica' ( Singapore, 1988) , 72 - 83 .
• R Dugas, Le troisième centenaire de Newton, Revue Sci. 86 (1948) , 111 - 114 .
• S J Dundon, Newton's 'mathematical way' in the 'De mundi systemate', Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 11 (1 - 4) (1969) , 195 - 204 .
• A W F Edwards, Is the frontispiece of 'Gulliver's travels' a likeness of Newton?, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 50 (2) (1996) , 191 - 194 .
• S B Engelsman, Orthogonaltrajektorien im Prioritätsstreit zwischen Leibniz und Newton, in 300 Jahre 'Nova methodus' von G W Leibniz (1684 - 1984) ( Wiesbaden, 1986) , 144 - 156 .
• H Erlichson, Huygens and Newton on the Problem of Circular Motion, Centaurus 37 (1994) , 210 - 229 .
• H Erlichson, The visualization of quadratures in the mystery of Corollary 3 to Proposition 41 of Newton's 'Principia', Historia Math. 21 (2) (1994) , 148 - 161 .
• H Erlichson, Newton's polygon model and the second order fallacy, Centaurus 35 (3 - 4) (1992) , 243 - 258 .
• H Erlichson, Newton and Hooke on centripetal force motion, Centaurus 35 (1) (1992) , 46 - 63 .
• H Erlichson, Newton's first inverse solutions, Centaurus 34 (4) (1991) , 345 - 366 .
• H Erlichson, Newton's solution to the equiangular spiral problem and a new solution using only the equiangular property, Historia Math. 19 (4) (1992) , 402 - 413 .
• H Erlichson, How Newton went from a mathematical model to a physical model for the problem of a first power resistive force, Centaurus 34 (3) (1991) , 272 - 283 .
• H Erlichson, Motive force and centripetal force in Newton's mechanics, Amer. J. Phys. 59 (9) (1991) , 842 - 849 .
• H Erlichson, Newton's 1679 / 80 solution of the constant gravity problem, Amer. J. Phys. 59 (8) (1991) , 728 - 733 .
• N Feather, Rutherford - Faraday - Newton, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 27 (1972) , 45 - 55 .
• M Feingold, Newton, Leibniz, and Barrow too : an attempt at a reinterpretation, Isis 84 (2) (1993) , 310 - 338 .
• M Fellgett, Some influences on the young Isaac Newton, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 42 (2) (1988) , 243 .
• E A Fellmann, Über eine Bemerkung von G. W. Leibniz zu einem Theorem in Newtons 'Principia Mathematica', Historia Math. 5 (3) (1978) , 267 - 273 .
• E A Fellmann, Newtons 'Principia', Jber. Deutsch. Math.-Verein. 77 (3) (1975 / 76) , 107 - 137 .
• A Ferguson, Newton and the 'Principia', Philos. Mag. (7) 33 (1942) , 871 - 888 .
• C Ferrini, On Newton's demonstration of Kepler's second law in Hegel's 'De orbitis planetarum' (1801) , Philos. Natur. 31 (1) (1994) , 150 - 170 .
• M Fierz and M Fierz, Zur Genauigkeit von Newtons Messung seiner Interferenzringe, Helv. Phys. Acta 67 (8) (1994) , 923 - 929 .
• K Figala, J Harrison and U Petzold, 'De scriptoribus chemicis' : sources for the establishment of Isaac Newton's ( al ) chemical library, in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 135 - 179 .
• S R Filonovich, Experiment in I Newton's 'Principia' ( Russian ) , Voprosy Istor. Estestvoznan. i Tekhn. (4) (1987) , 57 - 67 .
• G Findlay Shirras, Newton, a study of a master mind, Arch. Internat. Hist. Sci. ( N.S. ) 4 (1951) , 897 - 914 .
• M A Finocchiaro, Newton's third rule of philosophizing : a rule for logic in historiography, Isis 65 (1974) , 66 - 73 .
• E G Forbes, Newton's science and the Newtonian philosophy, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 413 - 418 .
• A Franklin and C Howson, Newton and Kepler, a Bayesian approach, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 16 (4) (1985) , 379 - 385 .
• H C Freiesleben, Newton's quadrant for navigation, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 515 - 522 .
• A Gabbey, Newton's 'Mathematical principles of natural philosophy' : a treatise on 'mechanics'?, in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 305 - 322 .
• M Gagnon, Les arguments de Newton concernant l'existence du mouvement, de l'espace et du temps absolus, Dialogue 25 (4) (1986) , 629 - 662 .
• M Galuzzi, Some considerations about motion in a resisting medium in Newton's 'Principia', in Conference on the History of Mathematics ( Rende, 1991) , 169 - 189 .
• F de Gandt, Le style mathématique des 'Principia' de Newton, Études sur l'histoire du calcul infinitésimal, Rev. Histoire Sci. 39 (3) (1986) , 195 - 222 .
• F de Gandt, The mathematical style of Newton's 'Principia', Mathesis. Mathesis 6 (2) (1990) , 163 - 189 .
• J Gani, Newton on 'a question touching ye different odds upon certain given chances upon dice', Math. Sci. 7 (1) (1982) , 61 - 66 .
• J Gascoigne, The universities and the scientific revolution : the case of Newton and Restoration Cambridge, Hist. of Sci. 23 (62 , 4) (1985) , 391 - 434 .
• I A Gerasimov, Newton and celestial mechanics ( Russian ) , Istor.-Astronom. Issled. 20 (1988) , 39 - 55 .
• E Giusti, A comparison of infinitesimal calculus in Leibniz and Newton ( Italian ) , Rend. Sem. Mat. Univ. Politec. Torino 46 (1) (1988) , 1 - 29 .
• J L Greenberg, Isaac Newton and the problem of the Earth's shape, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 49 (4) (1996) , 371 - 391 .
• J L Greenberg, Isaac Newton et la théorie de la figure de la Terre, Rev. Histoire Sci. 40 (3 - 4) (1987) , 357 - 366 .
• A T Grigor'yan, Isaac Newton's work of genius ( Russian ) , Studies in the history of physics and mechanics 1987 'Nauka' ( Moscow, 1987) , 177 - 191 ; 245 - 246 .
• A T Grigor'yan and B G Kuznetsov, On the 250 th anniversary of the death of Newton ( Russian ) , Organon 14 (1978) , 263 - 274 .
• U Grigull, Das Newtonsche Abkühlungsgesetz : Bemerkungen zu einer Arbeit von Isaac Newton aus dem Jahre 1701 , Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 20 (1 - 4) (1978) , 213 - 235 .
• E Grosholz, Some uses of proportion in Newton's 'Principia', Book I : a case study in applied mathematics, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 18 (2) (1987) , 209 - 220 .
• H Guerlac, 'Newton's mathematical way' : another look, British J. Hist. Sci. 17 (55 , 1) (1984) , 61 - 64 .
• H Guerlac, Can we date Newton's early optical experiments?, Isis 74 (271) (1983) , 74 - 80 .
• Z Hajduk, Isaac Newton's philosophy of nature, in Isaac Newton's 'Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica' ( Singapore, 1988) , 96 - 112 .
• A R Hall, Newton and the absolutes : sources, in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 261 - 285 .
• A R Hall, Beyond the fringe : diffraction as seen by Grimaldi, Fabri, Hooke and Newton, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 44 (1) (1990) , 13 - 23 .
• A R Hall, Further Newton correspondence, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 37 (1) (1982) , 7 - 34 .
• M B Hall, Newton and his theory of matter in the eighteenth century, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 453 - 459 .
• A R Hall, Newton in France : a new view, Hist. of Sci. 13 (4) (1975) , 233 - 250 .
• A R Hall, Newton and his editors, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 29 (1974) , 29 - 52 .
• A R Hall, John Collins on Newton's telescope, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 49 (1) (1995) , 71 - 78 .
• F Hammer, Newtons Bedeutung für den Dialog zwischen Naturwissenschaft und Theologie, Philos. Natur. 20 (1) (1983) , 3 - 13 .
• P M Harman, Newton to Maxwell : the 'Principia' and British physics. Newton's 'Principia' and its legacy, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 42 (1) (1988) , 75 - 96 .
• J L Hawes, Newton's revival of the aether hypothesis and the explanation of gravitational attraction, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 23 (1968) , 200 - 212 .
• S W Hawking, Newton's 'Principia', in Three hundred years of gravitation ( Cambridge, 1987) , 1 - 4 .
• A Hayli and Ph Kerspern, Le grand tournant de la pensée newtonienne de 1688 - 1690 , Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 511 - 514 .
• J Hendry, Newton's theory of colour, Centaurus 23 (3) (1979 / 80) , 230 - 251 .
• J W Herivel, Newtonian studies. III : The originals of the two propositions discovered by Newton in December 1679 ?, Arch. Internat. Histoire Sci. 14 (1961) , 23 - 33 .
• J W Herivel, Sur les premières recherches de Newton en dynamique, Rev. Histoire Sci. Appl. 15 (1962) , 105 - 140 .
• J E Hofmann, Der junge Newton als Mathematiker (1665 - 1675) , Math.-Phys. Semesterber. 2 (1951) , 45 - 70 .
• S H Hollingdale, Towards the tercentenary of Newton's 'Principia', Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 18 (9 - 10) (1982) , 178 - 183 .
• S H Hollingdale, On reading Newton's 'Opticks', Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 17 (1) (1981) , 2 - 6 .
• S H Hollingdale, The apotheosis of Isaac Newton, Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 14 (8 - 9) (1978) , 194 - 195 .
• M A Hoskin, Newton and Lambert, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 483 - 484 .
• M Hoskin, Newton and the beginnings of stellar astronomy, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 55 - 63 .
• R C Hovis, What can the history of mathematics learn from philosophy? A case study in Newton's presentation of the calculus, Philos. Math. (2) 4 (1) (1989) , 35 - 57 .
• M Hughes, Newton, Hermes and Berkeley, British J. Philos. Sci. 43 (1) (1992) , 1 - 19 .
• D W Hutchings, Isaac Newton, 1642 - 1727 , in Late seventeenth century scientists ( Oxford, 1969) , 158 - 183 .
• M de Icaza Herrera, Galileo, Bernoulli, Leibniz and Newton around the brachistochrone problem, Rev. Mexicana Fis. 40 (3) (1994) , 459 - 475 .
• T Ishigaki, Newton's 'Principia' from a logical point of view, Ann. Japan Assoc. Philos. Sci. 8 (4) (1994) , 221 - 236 .
• A Yu Ishlinskii, Inertia forces in Newton's world ( Russian ) , Priroda (3) (1989) , 66 - 74 .
• A Jacob, The metaphysical systems of Henry More and Isaac Newton, Philos. Natur. 29 (1) (1992) , 69 - 93 .
• W B Joyce and A Joyce, Descartes, Newton, and Snell's law, J. Opt. Soc. Amer. 66 (1) (1976) , 1 - 8 .
• R Kargon, Newton, Barrow and the hypothetical physics, Centaurus 11 (1) (1965 / 66) , 46 - 56 .
• P Kerszberg, The cosmological question in Newton's science, Osiris (2) 2 (1986) , 69 - 106 .
• M Keynes, The personality of Isaac Newton, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 49 (1995) , 1 - 56 .
• P V Kharlamov, The concept of force in Newton's mechanics ( Russian ) , Mekh. Tverd. Tela 20 (1988) , 46 - 67 ; 112 .
• C W Kilmister, The history of Newton's laws, Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 17 (8 - 9) (1981) , 173 - 176 .
• V S Kirsanov, Newton and his epoch ( Russian ) , Voprosy Istor. Estestvoznan. i Tekhn. (1) (1993) , 16 - 18 .
• V S Kirsanov, The correspondence between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke : 1679 - 80 ( Russian ) , Voprosy Istor. Estestvoznan. i Tekhn. (4) (1996) , 3 - 39 ; 173 .
• V S I Kirsanov, Newton's early ideas about gravity (1665 - 1669) ( Russian ) , Voprosy Istor. Estestvoznan. i Tekhn. (2) (1993) , 42 - 52 ; 172 .
• P Kitcher, Fluxions, limits, and infinite littlenesse : A study of Newton's presentation of the calculus, Isis 64 (221) (1973) , 33 - 49 .
• O Knudsen, A note of Newton's concept of force, Centaurus 9 (1963 / 1964) , 266 - 271 .
• N Kollerstrom, Newton's two 'moon-tests', British J. Hist. Sci. 24 (82 , 3) (1991) , 369 - 372 .
• N Kollerstrom and B D Yallop, Flamsteed's lunar data, 1692 - 95 , sent to Newton, J. Hist. Astronom. 26 (3) (1995) , 237 - 246 .
• A Koyré, Pour une édition critique des oeuvres de Newton, Rev. Hist. Sci. Appl. 8 (1955) , 19 - 37 .
• F D Kramar, Questions of the foundations of analysis in the works of Wallis and Newton ( Russian ) , Trudy Sem. MGU Istor. Mat. Istor.-Mat. Issledov. 1950 (3) (1950) , 486 - 508 .
• T M Kuk, On the question of Newton's physical concept of force ( Russian ) , Sketches on the history of mathematical physics 'Naukova Dumka' ( Kiev, 1985) , 80 - 83 ; 185 .
• L L Kul'vetsas, The content of the concept of force in Newton's mechanics ( Russian ) , in Studies in the history of physics and mechanics, 1990 'Nauka' ( Moscow, 1990) , 131 - 149 .
• B G Kuznecov, The teaching of Newton on relativity and absolute motion ( Russian ) , Izvestiya Akad. Nauk SSSR. Ser. Istor. Filos. 5 (1948) , 149 - 166 .
• T Lai, Did Newton renounce infinitesimals?, Historia Math. 2 (1975) , 127 - 136 .
• V P Lishevskii, The genius of the natural sciences ( on the occasion of the 350 th anniversary of the birth of Isaac Newton ) ( Russian ) , Vestnik Ross. Akad. Nauk 63 (1) (1993) , 33 - 37 .
• J E Littlewood, Newton and the attraction of a sphere, Math. Gaz. 32 (1948) , 179 - 181 .
• J A Lohne, Hooke versus Newton : An analysis of the documents in the case on free fall and planetary motion, Centaurus 7 (1960) , 6 - 52 .
• J A Lohne, Newton's table of refractive powers. Origins, accuracy, and influence, Sudhoffs Arch. 61 (3) (1977) , 229 - 247 .
• J A Lohne, Fermat, Newton, Leibniz und das anaklastische Problem, Nordisk Mat. Tidskr. 14 (1966) , 5 - 25 .
• J Marek, Newton's report 'New theory about light and colours' and its relation to results of his predecessors, Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 11 (1 - 4) (1969) , 390 - 407 .
• J E McGuire, Newton on place, time, and God : an unpublished source, British J. Hist. Sci. 11 (38 , 2) (1978) , 114 - 129 .
• J E McGuire and M Tamny, Newton's astronomical apprenticeship : notes of 1664 / 5 , Isis 76 (283) (1985) , 349 - 365 .
• F A Medvedev, Horn angles in the works of I Newton ( Russian ) , Istor.-Mat. Issled. 31 (1989) , 18 - 37 .
• A Michalik, Mathematical structure of nature in Newton's 'Definitions and Scholium', in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 265 - 269 .
• F Mignard, The theory of the figure of the Earth according to Newton and Huygens, Vistas Astronom. 30 (3 - 4) (1987) , 291 - 311 .
• M Miller, Newtons Differenzenmethode, Wiss. Z. Hochsch. Verkehrswes. Dresden 2 (3) (1954) , 1 - 13 .
• M Miller, Isaac Newton : Über die Analysis mit Hilfe unendlicher Reihen, Wiss. Z. Hochsch. Verkehrswes. Dresden 2 (2) (1954) , 1 - 16 .
• M Miller, Newton, Aufzahlung der Linien dritter Ordnung, Wiss. Z. Hochsch. Verkehrswes. Dresden 1 (1) (1953) , 5 - 32 .
• A A Mills, Newton's water clocks and the fluid mechanics of clepsydrae, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 37 (1) (1982) , 35 - 61 .
• A A Mills, Newton's prisms and his experiments on the spectrum, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 36 (1) (1981 / 82) , 13 - 36 .
• J D Moss, Newton and the Jesuits in the 'Philosophical transactions', in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 117 - 134 .
• H Nakajima, Two kinds of modification theory of light : some new observations on the Newton-Hooke controversy of 1672 concerning the nature of light, Ann. of Sci. 41 (3) (1984) , 261 - 278 .
• M Nauenberg, Huygens and Newton on Curvature and its applications to Dynamics, De zeventiende eeuw, jaargang 12 (1) (1996) , 215 - 234 .
• M Nauenberg, Newton's early computational method, Archive for the History of the Exact Science 46 (3) (1994) , 221 - 252 .
• M Nauenberg, Newton's Principia and Inverse square orbits, The College Mathematics Journal 25 (1994) , 213 - 222 .
• M Nauenberg, Newton's early computational method for dynamics, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 46 (3) (1994) , 221 - 252 .
• T Needham, Newton and the transmutation of force, Amer. Math. Monthly 100 (2) (1993) , 119 - 137 .
• J M Nicholas, Newton's extremal second law, Centaurus 22 (2) (1978 / 79) , 108 - 130 .
• C T O'Sullivan, Newton's laws of motion : some interpretations of the formalism, Amer. J. Phys. 48 (2) (1980) , 131 - 133 .
• M Panza, Eliminating time : Newton, Lagrange and the inverse problem of resisting motion ( Italian ) , in Conference on the History of Mathematics ( Rende, 1991) , 487 - 537 .
• J Peiffer, Leibniz, Newton et leurs disciples, Rev. Histoire Sci. 42 (3) (1989) , 303 - 312 .
• A Pérez de Laborda, Newtons Fluxionsrechnung im Vergleich zu Leibniz' Infinitesimalkalkül, in 300 Jahre 'Nova methodus' von G W Leibniz (1684 - 1984) ( Wiesbaden, 1986) , 239 - 257 .
• S Pierson, Two mathematics, two Gods : Newton and the second law, Perspect. Sci. 2 (2) (1994) , 231 - 253 .
• B Pourciau, Reading the master : Newton and the birth of celestial mechanics, Amer. Math. Monthly 104 (1) (1997) , 1 - 19 .
• B Pourciau, Newton's solution of the one-body problem, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 44 (2) (1992) , 125 - 146 .
• B H Pourciau, On Newton's proof that inverse-square orbits must be conics, Ann. of Sci. 48 (2) (1991) , 159 - 172 .
• A Prince, The phenomenalism of Newton and Boscovich : a comparative study, Synth. Philos. 4 (2) (1989) , 591 - 618 .
• T Retnadevi, The life and contributions of a mathematician whom I respect - Sir Isaac Newton, Menemui Mat. 5 (1) (1983) , 25 - 33 .
• V F Rickey, Isaac Newton : man, myth and mathematics, Mathesis. Mathesis 6 (2) (1990) , 119 - 162 .
• V F Rickey, Isaac Newton : man, myth, and mathematics, College Math. J. 18 (5) (1987) , 362 - 389 .
• G A J Rogers, The system of Locke and Newton, in Contemporary Newtonian research ( Dordrecht-Boston, Mass., 1982) , 215 - 238 .
• G A J Rogers, Locke, Newton and the Enlightenment, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 471 - 476 .
• L Rosenfeld, Newton and the law of gravitation, Arch. History Exact Sci. 2 (1964 / 1965) , 365 - 386 .
• R Rynasiewicz, By their properties, causes and effects : Newton's scholium on time, space, place and motion. II. The context, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 26 (2) (1995) , 295 - 321 .
• R Rynasiewicz, By their properties, causes and effects : Newton's scholium on time, space, place and motion. I. The text, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 26 (1) (1995) , 133 - 153 .
• C J Scriba, Erträge der Newton - Forschung, Sudhoffs Arch. 79 (2) (1995) , 150 - 164 .
• A E Shapiro, Beyond the dating game : watermark clusters and the composition of Newton's ' Opticks', in The investigation of difficult things ( Cambridge, 1992) , 181 - 227 .
• A E Shapiro, Huygens' 'Traité de la lumière' and Newton's 'Opticks' : pursuing and eschewing hypotheses, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 43 (2) (1989) , 223 - 247 .
• A E Shapiro, The evolving structure of Newton's theory of white light and color, Isis 71 (257) (1980) , 211 - 235 .
• A E Shapiro, Newton's 'achromatic' dispersion law : theoretical background and experimental evidence, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 21 (2) (1979 / 80) , 91 - 128 .
• S Di Sieno and M Galuzzi, Section V of the first book of the 'Principia'. Newton and the 'problem of Pappus' ( Italian ) , Arch. Internat. Hist. Sci. 39 (122) (1989) , 51 - 68 .
• D L Simms and P L Hinkley, Brighter than how many suns? Sir Isaac Newton's burning mirror, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 43 (1) (1989) , 31 - 51 .
• R Sokolowski, Idealization in Newton's physics, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 65 - 72 .
• G Solinas, Newton and Buffon. Newton and the Enlightenment, Vistas Astronom. 22 (4) (1978) , 431 - 439 .
• S K Stein, Exactly how did Newton deal with his planets?, Math. Intelligencer 18 (2) (1996) , 6 - 11 .
• F Steinle, Was ist Masse? Newtons Begriff der Materiemenge, Philos. Natur. 29 (1) (1992) , 94 - 117 .
• L Stewart, Seeing through the scholium : religion and reading Newton in the eighteenth century, Hist. Sci. 34 (104 , 2) (1996) , 123 - 165 .
• E W Strong, Newton's 'mathematical way', J. Hist. Ideas 12 (1951) , 90 - 110 .
• J Such, Newton's fields of study and methodological principia, in Isaac Newton's 'Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica' ( Singapore, 1988) , 113 - 125 .
• J Sysak, Coleridge's construction of Newton, Ann. of Sci. 50 (1) (1993) , 59 - 81 .
• V Szebehely, Sir Isaac Newton and modern celestial mechanics, Acad. Roy. Belg. Bull. Cl. Sci. (5) 72 (4) (1986) , 220 - 228 .
• F J Tipler, The sensorium of God : Newton and absolute space, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 215 - 228 .
• D Topper, Newton on the number of colours in the spectrum, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 21 (2) (1990) , 269 - 279 .
• B Tucha'nska, Newton's discovery of gravity, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 45 - 53 .
• I A Tyulina, On the foundations of Newtonian mechanics ( on the 300 th anniversary of Newton's 'Principia' ) ( Russian ) , Istor. Metodol. Estestv. Nauk 36 (1989) , 184 - 196 .
• S R Valluri, C Wilson and W Harper, Newton's apsidal precession theorem and eccentric orbits, J. Hist. Astronom. 28 (1) (1997) , 13 - 27 .
• A C S van Heel, Newton's work on geometrical optical aberrations, Nature 171 (1953) , 305 - 306 .
• S I Vavilov, I Newton's 'Lectures on Optics' ( Russian ) , Akad. Nauk SSSR. Trudy Inst. Istorii Estestvoznaniya 1 (1947) , 315 - 326 .
• C Vilain, La proportionnalité de la masse et du poids dans la dynamique newtonienne, Rev. Histoire Sci. 47 (3 - 4) (1994) , 435 - 473 .
• C Vilain, Newton et le modèle mécaniste de la réfraction, Rev. Histoire Sci. 40 (3 - 4) (1987) , 311 - 324 .
• V Vita, The theory of conics in Newton's 'Principia' ( Italian ) , Archimede 30 (3) (1978) , 130 - 141 .
• Th von Kármán, Isaac Newton and aerodynamics, J. Aeronaut. Sci. 9 (1942) , 521 - 522 .
• O U Vonwiller, Galileo and Newton : their times and ours, J. Proc. Roy. Soc. New South Wales 76 (1943) , 316 - 328 .
• C B Waff, Isaac Newton, the motion of the lunar apogee, and the establishment of the inverse square law, Vistas Astronom. 20 (1 - 2) (1976) , 99 - 103 .
• W A Wallace, Newton's early writings : beginnings of a new direction, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 23 - 44 .
• R Weinstock, Newton's 'Principia' and inverse-square orbits : the flaw reexamined, Historia Math. 19 (1) (1992) , 60 - 70 .
• R Weinstock, Long-buried dismantling of a centuries-old myth : Newton's 'Principia' and inverse-square orbits, Amer. J. Phys. 57 (9) (1989) , 846 - 849 .
• R Weinstock, Newton's 'Principia' and the external gravitational field of a spherically symmetric mass distribution, Amer. J. Phys. 52 (10) (1984) , 883 - 890 .
• R Weinstock, Dismantling a centuries-old myth : Newton's 'Principia' and inverse-square orbits, Amer. J. Phys. 50 (7) (1982) , 610 - 617 .
• R S Westfall, Technical Newton : Reviews of five books on Newton's dynamics, Isis 87 (4) (1996) , 701 - 706 .
• R S Westfall, The achievement of Isaac Newton : an essay on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of the 'Principia', Math. Intelligencer 9 (4) (1987) , 45 - 49 .
• R S Westfall, Newton and the acceleration of gravity, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 35 (3) (1986) , 255 - 272 .
• R S Westfall, Newton's marvelous years of discovery and their aftermath : myth versus manuscript, Isis 71 (256) (1980) , 109 - 121 .
• R S Westfall, A note on Newton's demonstration of motion in ellipses, Arch. Internat. Histoire Sci. 22 (86 - 87) (1969) , 51 - 60 .
• R S Westfall, Huygens' rings and Newton's rings : Periodicity and seventeenth century optics, Ratio 10 (1968) , 64 - 77 .
• D T Whiteside, The mathematical principles underlying Newton's Principia, Journal for the History of Astronomy 1 (1970) , 118 - 119 .
• D T Whiteside, How forceful has a force proof to be? Newton's 'Principia', Book 1 : Corollary 1 to Propositions 11 - 13 , Physis Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. ( N.S. ) 28 (3) (1991) , 727 - 749 .
• D T Whiteside, Newton the mathematician, in Contemporary Newtonian research ( Dordrecht-Boston, Mass., 1982) , 109 - 127 .
• D T Whiteside, Kepler, Newton and Flamsteed on refraction through a 'regular aire' : the mathematical and the practical, Centaurus 24 (1980) , 288 - 315 .
• D T Whiteside, Newton and dynamics, Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 13 (9 - 10) (1977) , 214 - 220 .
• D T Whiteside, Newton's lunar theory : from high hope to disenchantment, Vistas Astronom. 19 (4) (1975 / 76) , 317 - 328 .
• D T Whiteside, The mathematical principles underlying Newton's 'Principia mathematica', J. Hist. Astronom. 1 (2) (1970) , 116 - 138 .
• D T Whiteside, Before the 'Principia' : the maturing of Newton's thoughts on dynamical astronomy, 1664 - 1684 , J. Hist. Astronom. 1 (1) (1970) , 5 - 19 .
• G J Whitrow, Newton's role in the history of mathematics, Notes and Records Roy. Soc. London 43 (1) (1989) , 71 - 92 .
• E T Whittaker, Aristotle, Newton, Einstein, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A. 61 (1942) , 231 - 246 .
• E T Whittaker, Aristotle, Newton, Einstein, Philos. Mag. (7) 34 (1943) , 266 - 280 .
• A J Wojtcuk, Newton's childhood, in Newton and the new direction in science ( Vatican City, 1988) , 261 - 264 .
• H Wussing, Isaac Newton - Leben und Werk, NTM Schr. Geschichte Natur. Tech. Medizin 15 (1) (1978) , 71 - 80 .
• I M Yaglom, Why was higher mathematics simultaneously discovered by Newton and Leibniz? ( Russian ) , in Number and thought 6 ( Moscow, 1983) , 99 - 125 .
• K N Yan, A re-examination into Newton's definition of mass and Mach's criticism, Historia Sci. 40 (1990) , 29 - 40 .
• K N Yan, On Isaac Newton's ideas of gravitation and God, Historia Sci. 34 (1988) , 43 - 56 .
• A P Youschkevitch, Newton and the mathematical natural sciences ( on the 300 th anniversary of the 'Principia' ) ( Russian ) , Mat. v Shkole (1) (1988) , 64 - 67 .
• A P Youschkevitch, Comparaison des conceptions de Leibniz et de Newton sur le calcul infinitésimal, in Leibniz in Paris (1672 - 1676) ( Wiesbaden, 1978) , 69 - 80 .
• M Yurkina, Newton's 'Principia' and the origin of the modern theory of the shape of the Earth ( Russian ) , Istor.-Astronom. Issled. 20 (1988) , 56 - 63 .

Additional Resources ( show )

Other pages about Isaac Newton:

• John Maynard Keynes' Newton the Man
• Newton's Arian beliefs
• Flamsteed v Newton
• Charles Bossut on Leibniz and Newton
• Newton's Principia Preface
• John Collins meets Isaac Newton
• Julian and Gregorian calendars
• Newton-Raphson method
• Woolsthorpe Manor
• The title page of Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica ( The Principia 1687)
• The title page of Analysis per quantitatum series fluxiones (1711)
• Isaac Newton by his contemporaries
• Multiple entries in The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles ,
• Astronomy: The Reaches of the Milky Way
• Astronomy: The Dynamics of the Solar System
• Henry Taylor on Isaac Newton
• Miller's postage stamps
• Heinz Klaus Strick biography

Other websites about Isaac Newton:

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• The Newton Project ( UK )
• The Galileo Project
• G Don Allen
• Sci Hi blog
• A Google doodle
• Kevin Brown ( More about Newton's birthday )
• Mathematical Genealogy Project
• MathSciNet Author profile

Honours ( show )

Honours awarded to Isaac Newton

• Lucasian Professor 1669
• Fellow of the Royal Society 1672
• President of the Royal Society 1703 - 1727
• Lunar features Crater Newton
• Paris street names Rue Newton (16 th Arrondissement )
• Popular biographies list Number 3
• Google doodle 2010

Cross-references ( show )

• History Topics: A brief history of cosmology
• History Topics: A chronology of π
• History Topics: A history of the calculus
• History Topics: A history of time: 20 th century time
• History Topics: A history of time: Classical time
• History Topics: A mathematical walk around Bologna
• History Topics: An overview of Indian mathematics
• History Topics: An overview of the history of mathematics
• History Topics: Christianity and the Mathematical Sciences - the Heliocentric Hypothesis
• History Topics: Elliptic functions and integrals
• History Topics: English attack on the Longitude Problem
• History Topics: Fermat's last theorem
• History Topics: General relativity
• History Topics: Greek astronomy
• History Topics: Infinity
• History Topics: Light through the ages: Ancient Greece to Maxwell
• History Topics: London Coffee houses and mathematics
• History Topics: Longitude and the Académie Royale
• History Topics: Mathematical discovery of planets
• History Topics: Mathematics and Architecture
• History Topics: Mathematics and the physical world
• History Topics: Mathematics in St Andrews to 1700
• History Topics: Newton's bucket
• History Topics: Orbits and gravitation
• History Topics: Overview of Chinese mathematics
• History Topics: Science in the 17 th century: From Europe to St Andrews
• History Topics: Special relativity
• History Topics: The Bakhshali manuscript
• History Topics: The Berlin Academy and forgery
• History Topics: The brachistochrone problem
• History Topics: The development of the 'black hole' concept
• History Topics: The mathematician and the forger
• History Topics: Theories of gravitation
• History Topics: Weather forecasting
• Famous Curves: Cartesian Oval
• Famous Curves: Cissoid of Diocles
• Famous Curves: Conchoid
• Famous Curves: Cycloid
• Famous Curves: Epicycloid
• Famous Curves: Epitrochoid
• Famous Curves: Hypocycloid
• Famous Curves: Hypotrochoid
• Famous Curves: Kappa Curve
• Famous Curves: Lissajous Curves
• Famous Curves: Newton's Diverging Parabolas
• Famous Curves: Parabola
• Famous Curves: Serpentine
• Famous Curves: Trident of Newton
• Student Projects: Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance: Chapter 11
• Student Projects: Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance: Chapter 13
• Student Projects: Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance: Chapter 14
• Student Projects: Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance: Chapter 15
• Student Projects: Indian Mathematics - Redressing the balance: Chapter 18
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 1
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 5
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 8
• Other: 12th June
• Other: 13th May
• Other: 15th February
• Other: 15th January
• Other: 1897 ICM - Zurich
• Other: 1904 ICM - Heidelberg
• Other: 1908 ICM - Rome
• Other: 1912 ICM - Cambridge
• Other: 1924 ICM - Toronto
• Other: 1928 ICM - Bologna
• Other: 1932 ICM - Zurich
• Other: 1950 ICM - Cambridge USA
• Other: 19th February
• Other: 2009 Most popular biographies
• Other: 25th December
• Other: 26th January
• Other: 28th September
• Other: 2nd June
• Other: 2nd October
• Other: 30th November
• Other: 31st July
• Other: 3rd November
• Other: 4th September
• Other: 5th July
• Other: 6th December
• Other: 6th January
• Other: Cambridge Colleges
• Other: Cambridge Individuals
• Other: Cambridge professorships
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (A)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (C)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (D)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (E)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (F)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (G)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (H)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (I)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (L)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (M)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (N)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (O)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (P)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (Q)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (R)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (S)
• Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (T)
• Other: Earliest Uses of Symbols of Calculus
• Other: Earliest Uses of Symbols of Operation
• Other: Jeff Miller's postage stamps
• Other: London Learned Societies
• Other: London Miscellaneous
• Other: London Museums
• Other: London Schools
• Other: London Scientific Institutions
• Other: London individuals A-C
• Other: London individuals H-M
• Other: London individuals N-R
• Other: London individuals S-Z
• Other: Most popular biographies – 2024
• Other: On Growth and Form
• Other: Other Institutions in central London
• Other: Other London Institutions outside the centre
• Other: Oxford Institutions and Colleges
• Other: Oxford individuals
• Other: Oxford professorships
• Other: Popular biographies 2018
• Other: The Dynamics of the Solar System
• Other: The Reaches of the Milky Way

Isaac Newton Biography

Isaac Netwon is synonymous with apples and gravity. He rose to become the most influential scientist of the 17th century, his ideas becoming the foundation of modern physics, after very humble beginnings. But first, the big question: Did an apple really fall on Newton's head and spur him to figure out gravity? Historians say there is likely no more than a grain of truth to the story.

Sir Isaac Newton was born, premature and tiny, in 1642 in Woolsthorpe, England. His father, wealthy but uneducated, died before Newton was born, and he ended up being raised by his grandmother after his mother remarried. It’s said he didn’t excel at school, but he ended up studying law at Trinity College Cambridge, part of Cambridge University. He worked as a servant to pay his bills. And he kept a journal about his ideas.

What got Newton interested in math? He bought a book on the subject and couldn't comprehend it. After getting his bachelor's degree in 1665; he studied math, physics, optics and astronomy on his own (Cambridge was closed for a couple of years due to the plague known as the Black Death). By 1666 he had completed his early work on  his three laws of motion . Later he got his master's degree.

Later work focused on the diffraction of light (he used a prism to discover that white light is made of a spectrum of colors ) and the concepts he'd become known for: universal gravitation, centrifugal force, centripetal force, and the effects and characteristics of bodies in motion. His laws are still used by physics students today:

• An object will remain in a state of inertia unless acted upon by force.
• The relationship between acceleration and applied force is F=ma.
• For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Isaac Newton quotes

Newton said many things worth remembering, including these philosophical gems:

• "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
• "To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me."

Newton once said that if he had achieved anything in his research, it was "by standing on the shoulders of giants ." The quote was prophetic. A couple of centuries later, Albert Einstein puzzled over how to reconcile Newton's law of gravity with special relativity, which after several years led to  Einstein's theory of general relativity .

Isaac Newton inventions

While he's best known for his work on gravity, Newton was a tinkerer, too, but more with ideas than physical inventions. He did invent reflecting lenses for telescopes, which produced clearer images in a smaller telescope compared with the refracting models of the time. In his later years, he developed anti-counterfeiting measures for coins, including the ridges you see on quarters today.

Among his biggest " inventions " was calculus. Yes, that's right. Mere math and algebra weren't enough to explain the ideas in his head, so he helped invent calculus (German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz is typically credited with developing it independently at about the same time).

It's said that Newton invented a cat door so his cats would stop scratching to get in, but the truth of that one is a bit sketchy.

He also conceived of an "orbital cannon" that would poke out of a huge mountain, up in space, and with just the right amount of gunpowder could put a cannonball into orbit. This was not something Newton actually imagined building, but rather a way to think about his theories.

Later years

Urged by astronomer  Edmond Halley  (who was studying his now-famous comet), Newton continued to study his notion of gravity and apply it to the motions of the Earth, sun and moon. It all led to his seminal work, published in 1687, called the "Principia" — considered by many as the greatest science book ever written.

Newton's research stopped in 1679 when he had a nervous breakdown. Later, recovered, he spoke out against King James II, who wanted only Roman Catholics to be in powerful government and academic positions. When James was later driven out of England, Newton was elected to Parliament. He had a second breakdown in 1693, then retired from research. Isaac Newton died in 1727.

Among his more eccentric pastimes, Newton also dabbled (or more than dabbled) in alchemy, also called chymistry, with some historians estimating that he wrote more than a million words of alchemical notes, according to curator of rare books at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, James Voelkel.

And in March 2016, researchers announced they had found bought a 17th-century alchemy manuscript written by Newton . The manuscript, which had been hidden in a private collection for decades and turned up at an auction at Bonhams, provided the recipe for "philosophic" mercury, which was considered a step in the process for concocting a mysterious substance known the philosopher's stone; this material was thought to have supernatural powers — the ability to turn any metal into gold and to grant immortality. The manuscript will be available online for enthusiasts to explore.

Further reading

• Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion
• Inertia & Newton's First Law of Motion
• Force, Mass & Acceleration: Newton's Second Law of Motion
• Equal & Opposite Reactions: Newton's Third Law of Motion
• How Isaac Newton Changed the World
• What Is Gravity?
• What Is Einstein's Theory of Relativity?
• What Is Classical Mechanics?
• 20 inventions that changed the world

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

The universe had a secret life before the Big Bang, new study hints

World's fastest microscope can see electrons moving

1,700-year-old 'barbarian' burial discovered along Roman Empire's frontier in Germany

Most Popular

• 2 Scientists invent nanorobots that can repair brain aneurysms
• 3 Why do dogs' paws smell like Fritos?
• 4 Scientists just made mice 'see-through' using food dye — and humans are next
• 5 Roman coin trove discovered on Mediterranean island may have been hidden during ancient pirate attack

Sir Isaac Newton biography: Inventions, laws and quotes

A short history of Sir Isaac Newton, the mathematician and physicist that helped invent and explain some of the most fundamental laws of science.

Isaac Newton's early life

• Laws of motion

Isaac Newton's apple

• Inventions and discoveries

Additional resources

Bibliography.

Sir Isaac Newton contributed significantly to the field of science over his lifetime. He invented calculus and provided a clear understanding of optics. But his most significant work had to do with forces, and specifically with the development of a universal law of gravitation and his laws of motion . 

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day to a poor farming family in Woolsthorpe, England, in 1642. At the time of Newton's birth England used the Julian calendar, however, when England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, his birthday became 4th January 1643. 

Isaac Newton arrived in the world only a few months after his father, Isaac Newton Sr, had died. "The boy expected to live managing the farm in the place of the father he had never known," wrote James Gleick in "Isaac Newton" ( Vintage, 2004 ). 

However, when it became clear a farming life was not for him, Newton attended Trinity College in Cambridge, England. "He did not know what he wanted to be or do, but it was not tend sheep or follow the plough and the dung cart," wrote Gleick. While there, he took an interest in mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy . 

After his graduation, he began to teach at the college and was appointed as the second Lucasian Chair there. Today, the chair is considered the most renowned academic chair in the world, held by the likes of Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking .

In 1689, Newton was elected as a member of parliament for the university. In 1703, he was elected as president of the Royal Society, a fellowship of scientists that still exists today. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. He never married.

What are Isaac Newton's laws of motion?

Newton's most famous work came with the publication of his " Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica " ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), generally called Principia. In it, he determined the three laws of motion for the universe .

Newton's first law describes how objects move at the same velocity unless an outside force acts upon them. (A force is something that causes or changes motion.) Thus, an object sitting on a table remains on the table until a force — the push of a hand, or gravity — acts upon it. Similarly, an object travels at the same speed unless it interacts with another force, such as friction.

His second law of motion provided a calculation for how forces interact. The law states that a force is equal to the change in the momentum (mass multiplied by velocity) per change in time. Therefore, when more force is applied to an object, its acceleration also increases, but when the mass of the object increases and the force remains constant, its acceleration decreases.

Newton's third law states that for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If one body applies a force on a second, then the second body exerts a force of the same strength on the first, in the opposite direction. 

From all of this, Newton calculated the universal law of gravitation. He found that as two bodies move farther away from one another, the gravitational attraction between them decreases by the inverse of the square of the distance. Thus, if the objects are twice as far apart, the gravitational force is only a fourth as strong; if they are three times as far apart, it is only a ninth of its previous power.

These laws helped scientists understand more about the motions of planets in the solar system , and of the moon around Earth.

Related: What makes Newton's laws work? Here's the simple trick.

A popular myth tells of an apple falling from a tree in Newton's garden, which brought Newton to an understanding of forces, particularly gravity. Whether the incident actually happened is unknown, but historians doubt the event — if it occurred — was the driving force in Newton's thought process.

The myth tells of Isaac Newton having returned to his family farm in Woolsthorpe, escaping Cambridge for a short time as it was dealing with a plague outbreak. As he sat in the farm's orchard, an apple fell from one of the trees (in some tellings it hit Newton on the head). Watching this happen, Newton began to consider the forces that meant the apple always fell directly towards the ground, beginning his examination of gravity.

One of the reasons that this story gained a foothold in popular understanding is that it is an anecdote Newton himself seems to have shared. "Toward the end of his life, Newton told the apple anecdote around four times, although it only became well known in the nineteenth century," wrote Patricia Fara, a historian of science at the University of Cambridge, in a chapter of " Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science " (Harvard University Press, 2020).

However, it would be at least 20 years before Newton published his theories on gravity. It seems more likely that Newton used the story as a means of connecting the concept of gravity's impact on objects on Earth with its impact on objects in space for his contemporary audience.

The apple tree in question — known as the "Flower of Kent" — still blooms in the orchard of Woolsthorpe Manor, and is now a popular tourist attraction.  

Isaac Newton's inventions and discoveries

— Famous astronomers: How these scientists shaped astronomy  

— What is Astrophysics?

— Physicists crack unsolvable three-body problem using drunkard's walk  

While a student, Newton was forced to take a two-year hiatus when plague closed Trinity College. At home, he continued to work with optics, using a prism to separate white light, and became the first person to argue that white light was a mixture of many types of rays, rather than a single entity. He continued working with light and color over the next few years and published his findings in " Opticks " in 1704.

Disturbed by the problems with telescopes at the time, he invented the reflecting telescope, grinding the mirror and building the tube himself. Relying on a mirror rather than lenses, the telescope presented a sharper image than refracting telescopes at the time. Modern techniques have reduced the problems caused by lenses, but large telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope use mirrors. 

As a student, Newton studied the most advanced mathematical texts of his time. While on hiatus, he continued to study mathematics, laying the ground for differential and integral calculus. He united many techniques that had previously been considered separately, such as finding areas, tangents, and the lengths of curves. He wrote De Methodis Serierum et Fluxionum in 1671 but was unable to find a publisher.

Newton also established a cohesive scientific method, to be used across disciplines. Previous explorations of science varied depending on the field. Newton established a set format for experimentation still used today.

However, not all of Newton's ideas were quite as revolutionary. In P rincipia, Newton describes how rarefied vapor from comet tails is pulled into Earth's gravitational grasp and enables the movements of the planet's fluids along with the "most subtle and useful part of our air, and so much required to sustain the life of all things with us." 

Isaac Newton quotes

"Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica verita."

(Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.)

—Written in the margin of a notebook while a student at Cambridge. In Richard S. Westfall, Never at Rest (1980), 89.

"Genius is patience."

—The Homiletic Review, Vol. 83-84 (1922), Vol. 84, 290.

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

—Letter to Robert Hooke (5 Feb 1675-6).In H. W. Turnbull (ed.), The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, 1, 1661-1675 (1959), Vol. 1, 416.

"I see I have made my self a slave to Philosophy."

—Letter to Henry Oldenburg (18 Nov 1676). In H. W. Turnbull (ed.), The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, 1676-1687 (1960), Vol. 2, 182.

"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 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."

—First reported in Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, Observations and Characters, of Books and Men (1820), Vol. 1 of 1966 edn, sect. 1259, p. 462

"To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction; in other words, the actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and always opposite in direction."

— The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things."

—'Fragments from a Treatise on Revelation". In Frank E. Manuel, The Religion of Isaac Newton (1974), 120.

How did Sir Isaac Newton die?

Newton died in 1727 during his sleep at the age of 84. Although the cause of death is unknown, a 1979 study published by Newton's own Royal Society suggests mercury poisoning may have contributed to the decline of his physical and mental health. During the exhumation of his body, large amounts of mercury were found in the scientist's system, likely due to his work with alchemy. Newton conducted several experiments to convert base metals, such as mercury and copper into precious metals, such as gold and silver. 

"In 1693 Newton suffered from insomnia and poor digestion; and he also wrote irrational letters to friends. Although most scholars have attributed Newton's breakdown to psychological factors, it is possible that mercury poisoning may have been the principal cause," wrote L. W. Johnson and M. L. Wolbarsht " Mercury Poisoning: A probable cause of Isaac Newton's physical and mental ills: Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London Vol. 34. No. 1. " .

After his death, his body was moved to a more prominent place in Westminster Abbey. His white and grey marble monument stands in the nave of the Abbey's choir screen and boasts sculptures of Newton lounging surrounded by children using the many instruments, such as telescopes, associated with Newton's work. The inscription on the monument — originally written in Latin — reads: 

" Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25th December 1642, and died on 20th March 1726. " The date of his death on his monument is given in the Julian calendar. 

If you want to learn more about the impact of this celebrated scientist, then you should read about how Isaac Newton Changed the World . If you're wondering whether Newton's second law of motion works in space then an Astronaut has tested the theory out.

"Isaac Newton" by James Gleick (Vintage, 2004 )

" Mercury Poisoning: A probable cause of Isaac Newton's physical and mental ills: Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London Vol. 34. No. 1. " by L. W. Johnson and M. L. Wolbarsht (July 1979)

" The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy " by Isaac Newton (Flame Tree Collections, 2020)

" Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science " edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis (Harvard University Press, 2020)

" Life After Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career " by Patricia Fara (Oxford University Press, 2021)

"Isaac Newton" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007)

"Isaac Newton" University of St Andrews (2000)

"Sir Isaac Newton" Westminster Abbey (2023)

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Nola Taylor Tillman is a contributing writer for Space.com. She loves all things space and astronomy-related, and enjoys the opportunity to learn more. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Astrophysics from Agnes Scott college and served as an intern at Sky & Telescope magazine. In her free time, she homeschools her four children. Follow her on Twitter at @NolaTRedd

UAE on track to launch bold 7-asteroid mission in 2028

Space pictures! See our space image of the day

A partial lunar eclipse of the Harvest Moon Supermoon is coming. Here's everything you need to know

Most Popular

• 2 NASA spacecraft captures 1st photo of its giant solar sail while tumbling in space
• 3 'No Man's Sky' receives fishing, diving, and exo-skiffs via 'Aquarius' update (video)
• 4 The 1st Milky Way black hole image was groundbreaking — the next could be even better
• 5 NASA astronauts can't wear Boeing Starliner spacesuits in SpaceX's Dragon. Here's why

Biographies for Kids

Isaac newton.

• Occupation: Scientist, mathematician, and astronomer
• Born: January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England
• Best known for: Defining the three laws of motion and universal gravitation

• Gravity - Newton is probably most famous for discovering gravity. Outlined in the Principia, his theory about gravity helped to explain the movements of the planets and the Sun. This theory is known today as Newton's law of universal gravitation.
• Laws of Motion - Newton's laws of motion were three fundamental laws of physics that laid the foundation for classical mechanics.
• Calculus - Newton invented a whole new type of mathematics which he called "fluxions." Today we call this math calculus and it is an important type of math used in advanced engineering and science.
• Reflecting Telescope - In 1668 Newton invented the reflecting telescope . This type of telescope uses mirrors to reflect light and form an image. Nearly all of the major telescopes used in astronomy today are reflecting telescopes.
• He studied many classic philosophers and astronomers such as Aristotle, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Rene Descartes, and Galileo.
• Legend has it that Newton got his inspiration for gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree on his farm.
• He wrote his thoughts down in the Principia at the urging of his friend (and famous astronomer) Edmond Halley. Halley even paid for the book's publication.
• He once said of his own work "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

• Fundamentals NEW

• Biographies
• Compare Countries
• World Atlas

Isaac Newton

Introduction.

In 1661 Newton enrolled at Cambridge University. There he became interested in new scientific ideas that were coming out of Europe. They included the idea that Earth and the other planets travel around the sun. This idea challenged the long-held belief that Earth was the center of the universe.

Scientific Work

It’s here: the NEW Britannica Kids website!

We’ve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements!

• The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages.
• Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops.
• Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards.
• A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar.
• And so much more!

Want to see it in action?

Start a free trial

To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma

Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text.

After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar.

• Privacy Notice
• Terms of Use

• 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.

Stay tuned to BYJU’S and Fall in Love with Learning!

Put your understanding of this concept to test by answering a few MCQs. Click Start Quiz to begin!

Select the correct answer and click on the "Finish" button Check your score and explanations at the end of the quiz

Visit BYJU'S for all Physics related queries and study materials

Your result is as below

Request OTP on Voice Call

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post My Comment

How isaac Newton interest developed in science?

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

Isaac Newton: Who He Was, Why Apples Are Falling

Sir Isaac Newton was born especially tiny but grew into a massive intellect and still looms large, thanks to his findings on gravity, light, motion, mathematics, and more.

Mathematics, Physics

Isaac Newton Kneller Painting

Far more than just discovering the laws of gravity, Sir Isaac Newton was also responsible for working out many of the principles of visible light and the laws of motion, and contributing to calculus.

Photograph of Sir Godfrey Kneller painting by Science Source

Legend has it that Isaac Newton formulated gravitational theory in 1665 or 1666 after watching an apple fall and asking why the apple fell straight down, rather than sideways or even upward. "He showed that the force that makes the apple fall and that holds us on the ground is the same as the force that keeps the moon and planets in their orbits," said Martin Rees, a former president of Britain's Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science, which was once headed by Newton himself. "His theory of gravity wouldn't have got us global positioning satellites," said Jeremy Gray, a mathematical historian at the Milton Keynes, U.K.-based Open University. "But it was enough to develop space travel." Isaac Newton, Underachiever? Born two to three months prematurely on January 4, 1643, in a hamlet in Lincolnshire, England, Isaac Newton was a tiny baby who, according to his mother, could have fit inside a quart mug. A practical child, he enjoyed constructing models, including a tiny mill that actually ground flour—powered by a mouse running in a wheel. Admitted to the University of Cambridge on 1661, Newton at first failed to shine as a student. In 1665 the school temporarily closed because of a bubonic plague epidemic and Newton returned home to Lincolnshire for two years. It was then that the apple-falling brainstorm occurred, and he described his years on hiatus as "the prime of my age for invention." Despite his apparent affinity for private study, Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and served as a mathematics professor and in other capacities until 1696. Isaac Newton: More than Master of Gravity Decoding gravity was only part of Newton's contribution to mathematics and science. His other major mathematical preoccupation was calculus, and along with German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, Newton developed differentiation and integration —techniques that remain fundamental to mathematicians and scientists. Meanwhile, his interest in optics led him to propose, correctly, that white light is actually the combination of light of all the colors of the rainbow. This, in turn, made plain the cause of chromatic aberration—inaccurate color reproduction—in the telescopes of the day. To solve the problem, Newton designed a telescope that used mirrors rather than just glass lenses, which allowed the new apparatus to focus all the colors on a single point—resulting in a crisper, more accurate image. To this day, reflecting telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, are mainstays of astronomy. Following his apple insight, Newton developed the three laws of motion, which are, in his own words:

• Newton's Law of Inertia : Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
• Newton's Law of Acceleration : Force is equal to the change in momentum (mV) per change in time. For a constant mass, force equals mass times acceleration [expressed in the famous equation F = ma].
• Newton's Law of Action and Reaction: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton published his findings in 1687 in a book called Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) commonly known as the Principia . "Newton's Principia made him famous—few people read it, and even fewer understood it, but everyone knew that it was a great work, rather like Einstein's Theory of Relativity over two hundred years later," writes mathematician Robert Wilson of the Open University in an article on a university website . Isaac Newton's "Unattractive Personality" Despite his wealth of discoveries, Isaac Newton wasn't well liked, particularly in old age, when he served as the head of Britain's Royal Mint, served in Parliament, and wrote on religion, among other things. "As a personality, Newton was unattractive—solitary and reclusive when young, vain and vindictive in his later years, when he tyrannized the Royal Society and vigorously sabotaged his rivals," the Royal Society's Rees said. Sir David Wallace, director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, U.K., added, "He was a complex character, who also pursued alchemy"—the search for a method to turn base metals into gold—"and, as Master of the Mint, showed no clemency towards coiners [counterfeiters] sentenced to death." In 1727, at 84, Sir Isaac Newton died in his sleep and was buried with pomp and ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Last Updated

May 9, 2024

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources

7 Fascinating Facts about Sir Isaac Newton

Sometimes called the father of modern science, Isaac Newton revolutionized our understanding of our world. He was a real Renaissance man with accomplishments in several fields, including astronomy, physics and mathematics. Newton gave us new theories on gravity, planetary motion and optics. With the publication of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687, Newton lay the groundwork for modern physics. It also cemented his position as one of the leading minds of his age.

Today we celebrate Newton’s birthday as January 4th. Originally, according to the “old” Julien calendar, he was born on Christmas Day in 1642. No matter what the case, Newton lived an amazing life. Here are a few interesting tidbits about this important figure in the scientific revolution:

Newton’s life got off to a rough start

He never knew his father Isaac, who had died months before he was born. Newton’s own chances of survival seemed slim at the beginning. He was a premature and sickly infant that some thought would not live long. Newton was dealt another difficult blow when he was only three years old. His mother, Hannah, remarried, and his new stepfather, Reverend Barnabas Smith, wanted nothing to do with Isaac. The child was raised by his maternal grandmother for many years. The loss of his mother left Newton with a lingering insecurity that followed him the rest of life.

Newton was deeply religious from a young age

He felt compelled to jot down a list of his sins in one of his notebooks. Already a student at Trinity College at Cambridge University at the time, he divided these sins into acts that happened before and after Whitsunday 1662, or the seventh Sunday after Easter. Newton took even small lapses quite seriously, such as having unclean thoughts or using the Lord’s name. The list also showed a darker side of Newton, including him making threats to burn his mother and stepfather in their home.

Newton got a career boost from the Great Plague of 1665

He completed his bachelor’s degree at Cambridge University’s Trinity College in 1665 and wanted to continue his studies, but an epidemic of the bubonic plague soon altered his plans. The university closed its doors not long after the disease had begun its deadly sweep through London. During the first seven months of the outbreak, roughly 100,000 London residents had died.

Back at his family home, Woolsthorpe Manor, Newton actually began working on some of his most important theories. It was here that he explored ideas of planetary motion and made progress on his understanding of light and color. Newton may have also made advances in his theory about gravity by observing an apple fall from a tree in his garden.

Long before his breakthrough work was published, Newton was considered one of England’s leading thinkers

He was named the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1669, taking over the post from his mentor Isaac Barrow. Later geniuses to hold this position included Charles Babbage (also known as “the father of computing”), Paul Dirac and Stephen Hawking .

Newton got into several conflicts with other scientists and mathematicians

He and Robert Hooke , a scientist perhaps best known for his microscopic experiments, had a long-lasting grudge match. Hooke thought Newton’s theory of light was wrong and denounced the physicist’s work. The pair later clashed over planetary motion with Hooke claiming that Newton had taken some of his work and included it in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica .

Newton also argued with German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz over who discovered infinitesimal calculus first. Leibniz claimed that Newton had stolen his ideas. The Royal Society launched an investigation into the matter in 1712. With Newton as the president of the society since 1703, it was no surprise that the organization favored Newton in its findings. It was later determined that the two mathematicians had probably made their discoveries independent of each other.

In his later life, Newton enjoyed a political career

He was elected to Parliament as a representative for Cambridge in 1689 and returned to Parliament from 1701 to 1702. Newton was also active in the economic life of his country. In 1696, he was appointed Warden of the Royal Mint. Newton became the master of the mint three years later and actually changed the English pound from a sterling to gold standard.

Newton was given a send-off fit for a king

He was a famous and wealthy man at the time of his death in 1727, and he was mourned by the nation. His body lay in state in Westminister Abbey, and the Lord Chancellor was one of his pallbearers. Newton was laid to rest in the famed abbey, which also hosts the remains of such monarchs as Elizabeth I and Charles II . His elaborate tomb stands in the abbey’s nave and features a sculpture of reclining Newton with an arm resting on a stack of his great printed works. Other scientists, such as Charles Darwin , were later buried near Newton. The Latin inscription on the tomb praises him for possessing “a strength of mind almost, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own,” according to the official Westminister Abbey website.

Famous Mathematicians

Did This Newly Found Compass Belong to Copernicus?

The Solar Eclipse That Made Albert Einstein a Star

Archimedes: The Mathematician Who Discovered Pi

Benjamin Banneker

22 Famous Scientists You Should Know

Charles Babbage

Blaise Pascal

Leonhard Euler

Ada Lovelace

Valerie Thomas