Life And Contributions of Isaac Newton

I, Sir Isaac Newton, was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthrope, Lincolnshire, England. My mother told me that my father was a farmer but died three months before I was born. After my mother remarried, I spent most of my early years with my maternal grandmother. I attended the King’s School in Grantham and then I enrolled into the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661. In Cambridge I studied a classical curriculum, but then the works of modern philosophers such as Rene Descartes, fascinated me. There was this Great Plague that shuttered Cambridge in 1665 and I decided it was best I return home and once arriving home I began formulating theories on calculus, light a color, and my farm the setting for the falling apple is what inspired my work on gravity. (Editors Isaac Newton)

In 1667 I did return to Cambridge and was elected a minor fellow. I constructed the first reflecting telescope and then received my Masters of Arts degree and became Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. I was awarded a chance to present my telescope to the Royal Society of London in 1671. The following year I became apart of the Royal Society and published my notes on optics for my peers. Through my experiments with refraction, I determined that white light was a composite of all the colors on the spectrum, and I asserted that light was composed of particles instead of waves. With this knowledge and methods I drew sharp rebuke from one of my society members Robert Hooke, who followed up on my paper. Known for my temperamental defense of my work, I engaged in heated correspondence with Hooke. All the pressure caused me to suffer a nervous breakdown and I withdrew from the public eye around 1678. In the later years, I then return to my earlier studies on the forces of governing gravity and dabbled in alchemy. (Editors Isaac Newton)

I was noticed by English astronomer Edmund Halley who paid me a visit, upon learning that I had mathematically worked out the elliptical paths od celestial bodies, and Halley urged me to organize my notes, and with that came about my publication of “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”(Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which established the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity. Principia propelled me to stardom in intellectual circles, and eventually I earned universal acclaim as one of the most important works of modern science. With my newfound influence, I moved to London permanently after I was named warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, earning a promotion to master of the mint three years later. I was determined to prove my position and moved the pound sterling from sliver to the gold standard and sought punish counterfeiters. (Editors Isaac Newton)

After Hooke passing in 1703, I took over as president of the Royal Society, and the next year I published my second major work, “Opticks”. Where I composed largely from my earlier notes on the subject, my book detailed my painstaking experiments with refraction and the color spectrum, closing with my ruminations on such matters as energy and electricity. In 1705, Queen Anne of England knighted me. (Editors Isaac Newton)

I later died March 31, 1727. I was indeed remembered as a transformative scholar, inventor and writer. My precise methodology gave birth to what is known as the scientific method. My theories od space-time and gravity did give way to Mr. Albert Einstein, my work remains the bedrock on which modern physics was built. (Westfall)

Work Cited

1. Editors, History.com. “Isaac Newton.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Mar. 2015, www.history.com/topics/inventions/isaac-newton.
2. Westfall, Richard S. “Sir Isaac Newton.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1 Feb. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton.