Born on 4 January 1643 near Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Isaac Newton was a lonely but determined child.<\/p>\n
Even as a boy, he was aware of the motion of celestial bodies, constructing sundials<\/a> on the walls of his family home that visitors would use to tell the time.<\/p>\n In 1661 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. A fervent mathematician and philosopher, he began to research infinity, God and geometry and it was in these early writings the word \u2018gravity<\/a>\u2019 first appeared.<\/p>\n Newton returned to Woolsthorpe in 1664, when the plague closed Cambridge.<\/p>\n During this period of isolation, he developed a new form of mathematics that underpins almost all of mathematics and physics today: calculus.<\/p>\n Fellow mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz also developed the technique independently, leading to a lifelong feud over the method\u2019s true inventor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At Woolsthorpe, an enduring myth also formed: that Newton, sitting in the garden, was struck on the head by an apple causing him to \u2018discover\u2019 the universal force of gravity.<\/p>\n Newton never referenced this tale, though he reportedly said watching one fall was a source of inspiration.<\/p>\n It is clear from his notes, however, that it was during this time that Newton became aware of the pull of gravitational attraction.<\/p>\n Newton\u2019s thirst for knowledge was unquenchable, and his next target was optics.<\/p>\n He carried out experiments that showed that different colours of light were bent at different angles by a prism, and invented a way of using prisms to change the size of a beam of light, a technique now adopted in many lasers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By now, he had realised that most standard telescopes based on spherical lenses produced blurred images, and believed that he could do better.<\/p>\n He began to make his own lenses in a makeshift laboratory outside his dormitory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Newton soon understood that the problem was not the lenses, but instead the nature of white light.<\/p>\n He discovered that white light was composed of a rainbow, dispelling the longstanding misconception that white was a single colour.<\/p>\n Armed with this knowledge, he built a new \u2018reflection\u2019 telescope, using mirrors to focus light instead of lenses.<\/p>\n His device, just 16cm in length, was equal in magnifying power to the best European telescopes of the day.<\/p>\n Newton returned to Cambridge, where he was made Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. <\/span><\/p>\n After this, Newton was made Fellow of the Royal Society, but his secretive and difficult temperament led to his isolation from the academic community.<\/span><\/p>\n This changed in 1681, when he began making observations of the movements of a new comet that had appeared in the sky.<\/span><\/p>\n His insights attracted the attention of Edmond Halley, after whom Halley\u2019s Comet is now named.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Through correspondence with Halley, Newton began to compile his research into a logical form.<\/p>\n This resulted in his master work: Philosophi\u00e6 Naturalis Principia Mathematica<\/i>, after which UK astronaut Tim Peake\u2019s Principia mission<\/a> onboard the International Space Station<\/a> was named.<\/span><\/p>\n Published in 1687 and funded by Halley, Principia<\/i><\/span> formed the basis of classical mechanics, the theory of how large bodies move under gravity.<\/p>\n Most famously, the work outlined Newton\u2019s three laws of motion.<\/p>\n Newton moved to London in 1696, where he took up the position of Warden and then Master of the Royal Mint, responsible for England\u2019s coinage.<\/p>\n He became President of the Royal Society in 1703, just before he published his seminal book, Opticks<\/i><\/span>, on the theory of light and colour. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and died in his sleep in London on 31 March 1727.<\/p>\n He was the first scientist to be buried in Westminster Abbey.<\/p>\n Newton\u2019s contributions to physics are wide-reaching, but his three laws of motion are among his most important work<\/span><\/p>\n Newton began working on his laws of motion in his notebook, entitled The Waste Book<\/i>, during his isolation at his family\u2019s farm in Woolsthorpe.<\/p>\n His three laws came to fruition over many years and were finally presented in Philosophi\u00e6 Naturalis Principia Mathematica<\/i> in 1687.<\/p>\n Newton\u2019s three laws can be summarised as:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This guide originally appeared in the January 2023 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Anita Chandran Published: Monday, 16 January 2023 at 12:00 am Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most celebrated figures in scientific history. His wide-ranging contributions touched almost every aspect of modern science.\u00a0 Born on 4 January 1643 near Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Isaac Newton was a lonely but determined child. Even as a boy, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40476,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/isaac-newton-life-and-discoveries-of-the-great-british-scientist.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Anita Chandran Published: Monday, 16 January 2023 at 12:00 am Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most celebrated figures in scientific history. His wide-ranging contributions touched almost every aspect of modern science.\u00a0 Born on 4 January 1643 near Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Isaac Newton was a lonely but determined child. Even as a boy, he…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/01\/newton-principia-8fd7661.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C620"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Newton and optics<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Newton and the laws of motion<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Newton\u2019s three laws of motion explained<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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