Sir Isaac Newton Facts

The famous scientist from Britain, Sir Isaac Newton was a mathematician, physicist, theologian, astronomer, alchemist and a natural philosopher. He was born on 4th January, 1643 in a village called Woolsthorpe Manor and was a farmer's son; he was named after his father. Newton's father died 3 months before his birth; his mother remarried in few years time. Since the age of 3 years, Newton had to live at his grandmother's place. Isaac Newton studied in The King's School Grantham till the age of 17. In the month of June, 1661, he took admission in the Trinity College, Cambridge. He was not interested in the works of Aristotle that were taught in college in those times. The advanced ideas of astronomers like Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler attracted him the most. He was also interested in the thoughts and ideas proposed by philosophers like Descartes. Newton's personality was multifaceted since he delved into a variety of subjects like mathematics, mechanics, religion and even alchemy. Let us have a look at some of the interesting facts about this great scientist through the article.

Facts about Sir Isaac Newton
Let us have a look at some of the facts about Sir Isaac Newton.

• Isaac Newton completed his graduation in the year 1665; he also discovered the generalized binomial theorem in the same year.
• The law of universal gravitation stated by Sir Isaac Newton is considered a milestone in the study of the physical universe.
• Newton delivered lectures on the subject of optics from the year 1670-1672. In the mean time, he studied refraction of light and demonstrated the decomposition of white light in a color spectrum.
• The books written on gravitation theory and Newton's laws of motion (Principia) were published between the years 1686 and 1687.
• Sir Isaac Newton used to study the Bible to collect scientific information. Based on the study of Bible, he had conducted some research and documented the work through manuscripts. One of the manuscripts of Newton has a reference to the end of Earth in the year 2060.
• The famous French writer, Voltaire popularized the story of Newton being inspired by a falling apple and later on propagating the theory of gravitation.
• Some of Newton's ideas were criticised by Robert Hooke, the curator of experiments at Royal Society. This criticism outraged Newton and thereafter, he refrained from participating in public debates on matters related to research.
• The relationship between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke was not a cordial one. However, Hooke played an important role in challenging Newton's theories and in the process, drawing up fundamental questions pertaining to planetary motion. This interaction with Robert Hooke indirectly motivated Newton to study the phenomenon of gravitation to its depths.
• Newton and his supporters had accused Gottfried Leibniz, a German mathematician of plagiarism pertaining to the research of calculus. The Royal Society investigated this matter and declared that Newton's works associated with calculus were the original ones.

Interesting Facts about Newton's Life
The facts presented in the paragraphs below offer general information about Newton's life.

• Birth date of Sir Isaac Newton was earlier recorded as 25th December, 1642 since the Gregorian calendar had not been adopted in England till that time.
• Newton was born prematurely i.e. about 11-15 weeks early.
• Newton went to The King's School where he studied till October, 1659 after which his mother tried to make him a farmer. Young Isaac didn't like farming and was sent back to The King's School to complete his education.
• Newton was a religious person and he wrote a lot about Biblical hermeneutics. However, he also believed that the true message and thoughts behind the original teachings of Christ got diluted in the course of time.
• The religious beliefs of Newton were influenced by the rejection of Cartesian dualism by Henry More.
• Sir Isaac Newton became the Member of Parliament in the year 1689 and held this post till the next year i.e. 1690. In 1701, he once again held the post of Member of Parliament.
• Before becoming the Member of Parliament for the second time, Newton began working in the Royal Mint from the year 1696.

Inventions by Newton
Here are some of the facts about inventions by Isaac Newton.

• The development of infinitesimal calculus was one of the important inventions.
• Sir Isaac Newton invented the reflective telescope and many small toys along with it in the year 1668. The reflective telescope was composed of a concave shaped primary mirror and a secondary mirror which was flat diagonal in shape.
• While studying the phenomenon of refraction of light, Newton demonstrated that white light is decomposed into a color spectrum when it passes through a prism. The general conception of the functionality of prism was that it modifies the light; however, Newton successfully demonstrated that the prism merely separated the light into a spectrum of colors.
• Newton argued that light is formed of particles. Scientists like Huygens were of the view that light is made of waves.
• The color theory propagated by Newton was known as Newton's color theory. According to this theory, objects do not exhibit their own colors. They display a particular color as a result of interaction with an already-colored light. Read more on Isaac Newton's discoveries.

Newton's works on alchemy gained lesser public attention than his other studies. The Royal Society didn't find his alchemical works suitable for publication. However, these works were important from the point of inspiring Newton to delve into other topics of scientific research. One of the main reasons why Newton's alchemical experiments didn't get much attention is probably because they were apparently fruitless and did not invent or discover something concrete or substantial. The difference between scientific research and alchemy was quite obscure in the times of Newton. This could also be one of the reasons behind Newton taking interest in alchemy and later on abandoning the whole exercise.

The facts about Isaac Newton give us a fair idea about this genius astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. The timeline of Isaac Newton which spans between 4 January 1643 - 31 March 1727 was thus, an important period from the point of inventions and discovery of fundamental principles that govern the universe.