Great Minds Think Alike: Physicists that Changed the World

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If the subject of physics and all discoveries pertaining to it were condensed into one book, that book would have thousands of authors. Few of those contributors, however, could match the brilliance or importance of Sir Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke. Without these men, we would not understand concepts such as gravity or cellular structure, and without such discoveries, we would not have made the advancements we have today.
Isaac Newton was born in 1642 to a family of farmers. In 1661 Newton had the opportunity to attend Trinity University. His studies there led to his interests in physics, astronomy, math, and optics. In 1668 Newton constructed his reflecting telescope. This was his first major achievement in science, and it founded his credibility as a scientist. Four years later, after a series of presumed failures, he attained the role of fellow in the Royal Society. Newton continued research in the field of optics. He experimented topics such as the composition of light and its behavior (Isaac). In 1674 Newton became the first man to hint at “attractive powers” like gravity, and in 1684 he completed his calculations on gravity. The book discussing those three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, entitled Principia, was released in 1684. Newton taught us that “an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest”, that acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the net force acting on the body, and that forces acting on a second body will cause the second body to enact an equal and opposite force (Weisstein). Without Sir Isaac Newton, we would not be able to view minimums and maximums on graphs, understand the falling of a comet, view the stars through telescop...

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...sis of physics classes across the world, and their names remain among the most important of the 17th century. Newton and Hooke did argue over credit for the same idea, but we all know that great minds think alike.

Works Cited

"Isaac Newton." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .
"Newton and Robert Hooke." Newton.edwardworthlibrary.ie Newton and Hooke. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .
"Robert Hooke (1635-1708)." Robert Hooke. N.p., 17 Jan. 2003. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .
Waggoner, Ben. "Robert Hooke." Robert Hooke. N.p., 1 Jan. 2001. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .
Weisstein, Eric W. "Newton, Isaac." Scienceworld.wolfram.com. N.p., 2007. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

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