The Contributions of Isaac Newton

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In 1642 on Christmas Day an English mathematician, astronomer, and natural philosopher was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. Baby Isaac was born so premature that is was said he could fit into a quart pot.

Newton’s father who was a yeoman farmer died a few moths before Isaac was born. It was said that Isaac was to carry on the paternal farm when old enough. When Isaac was three his mother, Hannah Ayscough, married a clergyman from North Witham, the next village, and went to live with him leaving Isaac to live with his grandmother, Margery Ayscough. Treated like an orphan, Isaac did not have a very happy childhood. After eight years of marriage, his stepfather died and his mother came back with her three small children. Two years later Newton attended grammar school at Grantham. He lodged with the local apothecary where was fascinated with all the chemicals. His learning in school got the attention of many people. As a child, Isaac Newton had invented three things, which included a windmill that could grind wheat and corn, a water clock that was powered by water-drops, and a sundial, which can be seen today in the house in which he was born. At the age of fourteen he left school to help his mother take care of the farm but he was so busy reading, solving problems, making experiments, and devising mechanical models that his mother noticing this thought he need a more congenial job. His uncle who was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, recommended he should be sent there.

In 1661, Isaac began his college life at Trinity College where he received his first degree in 1665. Newton lived here at Trinity from 1661 until 1696; during this time, he produced the bulk of his work in Mathematics. Also, during the year 1665 a plague broke out in Cambridge, which shut it down for parts of the year in 1665 and 1666.

For these several months, Newton returned home. This period was crowded with great discoveries by Newton. He had begun to do regular work, and in the next two years, he discovered the binomial theorem, the method of tangents, and other important mathematical principles. When he was elected to join the Royal Society in 1672, it showed that he was highly regarded. For the last twenty-four years for his life, he served as president for the Royal Society. Also, in 1672 Newton published his first scientific paper on light and color in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

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