Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born on a farm in Lincolnshire but he was never suited to taking on the family business. Instead, he went to Cambridge University, first as a student in 1661, then as a professor, eventually leaving in 1696. During this time, Newton’s precise observations and huge intellect led to new discoveries in mathematics, physics, astronomy and optics. He invented calculus and built the first reflecting telescope.

He studied everything from chemistry to chronology, theology to philosophy and although he is seen as setting the stage for the coming scientific age, his own aim was to align religion with scientific principles. He was a quiet, secretive man who never married or had children. If anyone criticised his findings, his temper would flare and he would take revenge if the opportunity arose ~ as with Robert Hooke and the other claimant to the invention of calculus, Gottfried Liebniz.

His ‘Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’, published in 1687 in Latin, included his three laws of motion and his theories on gravity, fluids, tidal movement and the occurrence of the equinoxes, as well as calculations of the speed of sound and his method of calculus, called ‘fluxions’. His theory of colour appeared in ‘Opticks’ in 1704.

(Image: Martin McCallion at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)