Sir Isaac Newton was a profound mathematician and physicist, one of the primary scientificintellects of all time. For almost 300 years, Newton has been known as the leader in scientific achievements of modern physical science as well as mathematical research. Dedicated to learning and experimenting, Newton also plunged into chemistry, early history of Western Civilization and theology, and a concentration of special studies in forms and dimensions, which also included Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.
On Christmas day in 1642, Newton was born to a widowed farming mother. In 1664 while still a student, Newton studied optics and light. He investigated the refraction of light by a glass prism, which led to discovering measurable mathematical patterns in the phenomenon of color (1). He found white light to be a mixture of infinitely varied colored rays, each ray identifiable by the angle that it is refracted on entering or leaving a given translucent medium. Newton also correlated this experiment with his study of the interface of colors on thin films, such as oil and soap bubbles. He used a simple technique of measuring the thickness of each film used (2).
This experiment of optics and light were widely unaccepted by many scientists. Newton'sexperiments were thought to be unconventional because they went against the previous ideas of optics and light. The skepticism of Christian Huygnes and Edme Mariotte's failure to duplicated Newton's experiments set other scientists on the European Continent against Newton for a generation.
Newton's showed early intellect in mathematics through his notes in school. Newton made contributions to all branches of mathematics, but mainly discovered solutions to contemporary problems in analyti...
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Footnotes:
1. Hall, A. Rupert. Isaac Newton: Adventurer in Thought. New York: Cambrige
Press. 1992. pg 68.
2. Hall, A. Rupert. Isaac Newton Eighteenth-Century Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 1999. pg 72.
3. White, Michael. Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer. Reading, Massachusettes:
Addison-Wesley. 1997. pg 78.
4. White, 79.
5. White, 89.
6. White, 180.
7. Hall, 234.
8. Hall, 235.
9. Hall, 270.
10. Hall, 286.
11. White, 295.
Bibliography:
Hall, A. Rupert. Isaac Newton: Adventurer in Thought. New York: Cambrige
Press. 1992. pg 68.
Hall, A. Rupert. Isaac Newton Eighteenth-Century Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 1999. pg 72.
White, Michael. Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer. Reading, Massachusettes:
Addison-Wesley. 1997. pg 78.
In this experiment, Newton placed a second prism 5 or 6 yards away from the first. At first, when the light passed through the prisms, his results were the same as the first experiment. However, when the prisms were moved farther away from the wall onto which the light was being projected, the light projected from the prisms became white again. When they were moved even farther, the light became colored again, but the color scale was inverted from the original scale. According to the accepted theory of light, the second prism changed the color of the light projected onto the wall. Therefore, Newton’s results once again contradicted the accepted theory of light. He also rotated the prisms to test if this would have an effect on the light, but it did not. Due to these observations, Newton concluded that light was in fact a combination of all light on the spectrum of light, not just a mixture of light and
In this essay, published in 1738, Voltaire explains the philosophies of not only Newton, but in a large part Descartes because of his contributions in the fields of geometry. In Voltaire's concise explanation of Newton's and other philosophers' paradigms related in the fields of astronomy and physics, he employs geometry through diagrams and pictures and proves his statements with calculus. Voltaire in fact mentions that this essay is for the people who have the desire to teach themselves, and makes the intent of the book as a textbook. In 25 chapters, and every bit of 357 pages, as well as six pages of definitions, Voltaire explains Newton's discoveries in the field of optics, the rainbow spectrum and colors, musical notes, the Laws of Attraction, disproving the philosophy of Descarte's cause of gravity and structure of light, and proving Newton's new paradigm, or Philosophy as Voltaire would have called it. Voltaire in a sense created the idea that Newton's principles were a new philosophy and acknowledged the possibility for errors.
Herbert Butterfield stated that, "Since the Scientific Revolution overturned the authority in science not only of the middle ages but of the ancient world...it outshines everything since the rise of Christianity." During the scientific revolution Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton all voiced their opinions that contradicted the views of the church.
Ball, Rouse. “Sir Isaac Newton.” A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. 4th ed. Print.
The three laws of motion are three rules that explain the motion of an object. The first law is the law of inertia. It states that every object remains at rest unless it is compelled by an external force. The second law is the law of acceleration. This law shows when there is a change in force, it causes a change in velocity. Finally, the third law states that every force in nature has an equal and opposite reaction. His discovery in calculus help confirms his second law of motion. Calculus also gave Isaac Newton powerful ways to solve mathematical problems. Lastly, for the color spectrum, he produced a beam of light from a tiny hole in a window shade. He placed a glass prism in front of the beam of light creating a color spectrum. In Newton’s undergraduate days, Newton was greatly influenced by the Hermetic tradition. After learning about the Hermetic tradition it influenced him to look at a different perspective into his discoveries and theories. One of the myths that followed the discovery is his discovery of universal gravitation. It is said that while Isaac Newton was thinking about the forces of nature, an apple fell on his head and he found the theory of gravity. There is no evidence that an apple fell on Newton’s head, but the evidence is shown that Newton got an idea of the theory of gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree. During his life; however, Isaac Newton faced many obstacles. When he published some of his ideas in Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society, some people challenged his ideas such as Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens to a point where Newton stopped publishing his work. During his life, he also suffered a nervous breakdown in a period of his life. He was convinced his friends were conspiring against him, and he couldn’t sleep at all for five
...one’s experiment. Even so, Newton grasped what many could not in his time, making him a great thinker and a revolutionary in the field of science.
During the years of 1665 and 1667 he worked out the essentials of calculus, he hit upon the crucially important optical law and most significantly grasped the principle o...
Newton wrote many laws and theories that still exist and are followed. Newton wrote a book on optics. Part of Newton's study of optics was aided with the use of a reflecting telescope that he designed and constructed in 1668 which was his first major public scientific achievement. This invention helped prove his theory of light and color. The Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope in 1671, and the organization's interest encouraged Newton to publish his notes on light, optics and color in 1672; these notes were later published as part of Newton's Opticks book.
With the Scientific Revolution in full swing, Sir Isaac Newton became very interested in advanced science and philosophy. In fact, he...
his home in Woolsthorpe over the next two years. During this time he worked on
When most people hear the name Isaac Newton, they think of various laws of physics and the story of the apple falling from the tree; in addition, some may even think of him as the inventor of calculus. However, there was much more to Newton’s life which was in part molded by the happenings around the world. The seventeenth century was a time of great upheaval and change around the world. The tumultuousness of this era was due mostly to political and religious unrest which in effect had a great impact on the mathematics and science discoveries from the time Newton was born in 1646 until the early 1700’s.
Isaac Newton was born on January 4th, 1643. Newton was an established analyst and math expert, and was considered as one of the skilled minds of the 17th century Scientific Revolution.With his discoveries in optics, movement and mathematics, Newton improved the ways of thinking/basic truths/rules of modern remedy. His father was a prosperous local farmer, with the name also, Isaac Newton, who happened to have passed away when Newton was only 3 months old.When Newton was born, he was very tiny and weak so the doctors suggested that he would not survive. Isaac lived to the age of 84 years old. (Bio.com)Newton’s mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, left Isaac with his maternal grandmother, because she left him for a man named Barnabas Smith, whom she married and lived her life with.This experience left Newton, broken-hearted, but he did not want to give up; no not at all, he kept leaning towards his interest, and drooling over his magnificent work.
Many scientists today revere Newton’s intellect because of his theory of gravity. Although this inevitably leads to many Whiggish accounts, the evidence from history gives a more nuanced view of his discoveries. In particular, Newton’s obsession of the occult and theology, the previous works from his predecessors, and the correspondences between his peers demonstrate that modern society overrated Newton’s ingenuity.
He conducted experiments on sunlight and prisms. He discovered that sunlight was made up of different colors. This lead to his work on reflecting telescopes. At the same time he was working out his ideas of planetary motion. He returned to Cambridge in 1667 and became the a fellow, earned his MA and the following year became the chair of the math department. he then wrote a book on optics. Newton worked cooperatively wiht other scientists such as Robert Hookeand Edmund Halley on planetary motion. But he was later bitter and resentfull not wanting to give other any credit for their contributions to his work. Newton went on to serve in government positions such as a member of Parliament and later as Warden of the Mint. His only words spoken as a member of parliament were "shut the window." He had a mental breakdown of sorts resulting in thoughts of persecutiojn mania later in life.
Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England where he grew up. His father, also named Isaac Newton, was a prosperous farmer who died three months before Isaacs’s birth. Isaac was born premature; he was very tiny and weak and wasn’t expected to live (bio).