The Bubonic Plague In London

Sir Isaac Newton lived during the later half of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. During the time period in which he performed his experiment on light, several historical events of great importance occurred. For example, in the years 1665 and 1666, the Great Plague (otherwise known as the Black Death) ravaged England. The Bubonic Plague began to spread in the poorest districts of London, where filth and sewage covered the streets. This provided the perfect environment for the thriving of rats, the transmitters of the disease. From there, it quickly spread throughout every part of London and the entire country of England. There was no cure for the disease and the treatments used were trivial, including the

The plague rapidly worked its way through the bodies of the infected, beginning with flu-like symptoms, followed by the development of buboes (large circular blotches that appeared throughout the skin). This was followed by the failure of internal organs followed by a sneezing fit that led to death. This process usually only took four to six days to kill the infected. The hopelessness of the situation caused several people to leave the city and live a life of crime in the countryside, leading to chaos throughout all of England. The plague was finally put under control during the Great London Fires of 1666. The fires destroyed the poor, crowded parts of the city were the disease thrived. The rate of the spread disease greatly declined after this event and England was able to recover. An estimated 20% of London’s population (100,000 people) was wiped out during the Great

Newton’s father (also called Isaac Newton) died when he was three months old and his mother remarried when he was three years old. Newton was then sent to live with his grandmother until he was twelve. He attended King’s School, where he was introduced to chemistry. After failing as a farmer, Newton was sent to study at Trinity College in Cambridge. While attending the university, Newton spent most of his time researching modern philosophies and writing “Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae” (“Certain Philosophical Questions”), which displays Newton’s development of the scientific method. In 1665, Newton was forced to leave Cambridge for eighteen months due to the Great Plague (“Sir Isaac Newton”, 369). At one point during this time, myth has it that an apple fell onto Newton’s head from a tree, leading to his discovery of gravity. Newton also made several discoveries in motion and light, which he published several years later in his Principia (published in 1687). The book is considered the greatest work of modern