Isaac Newton was born prematurely on December 25, 1642 in Woolsthorpe, England. His father had died just two months before he was born, so his widowed mother and her mother had to raise the sickly Isaac while also running their farm during the English Civil War. Eventually Isaac became healthier, and he attended King’s College for school. He didn’t play outside much, but instead built realistic, movable models of windmills, carts, and other objects. His mother married a minister and had three kids, but he died when Isaac was 14, and Isaac had to leave school in order to run the farm. Because of Isaac’s love for learning, his mother was able to make arrangements for Isaac to return to King’s College without any tuition fees.
When he completed his schooling at King’s College, Isaac Newton went to Trinity College at Cambridge University, intending to become a minister for the Church of England. He had to work very hard doing many different jobs in order to pay for his tuition. Just like at King’s College, people at Trinity College were very impressed by Newton’s knowledge of the Bible. He graduated in 1665 and returned to the farm, which was being run by his younger half-brother. At the farm, Newton studied many things, including binomial theorem, calculus, light, telescopes, and theology.
Newton used his binomial theorem to develop a new branch of mathematics called calculus, which was also being developed at about the same time by Gottfried Leibniz. This caused a great controversy, but we now know that they both developed calculus independently of each other without stealing each other’s work.
In 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge to attain a Master’s Degree, and he also taught there and continued his research. He proved that sunlight contained all the colors of the rainbow, and he then developed a better telescope that used a curved lens. In 1672, Isaac Newton joined the Royal Society, which was a group of scientists, and he presented his findings on light and his new telescope to them. A team of scientists led by Robert Hooke was tasked with evaluating Newton’s work, and Robert Hooke, who had his own theories about light, was very critical of Newton’s discoveries, which was upsetting for Newton. Around this time, King Charles II declared that all teachers at places where Church of England ministers were taught must be ordained themselves, even if they only taught math and science. Newton didn’t like political involvement with religion and education, and he also didn’t totally agree with all the doctrines of the Church of England, so he went to London to ask the king for an exception. Newton was in London for six weeks, during which time he got to better know the other members of the Royal Society, and at the end of the six weeks, the king granted his request and Newton returned to teach at Trinity College without getting ordained.
1684 brought a renewed interest in gravity to Newton, and he developed his theory of universal gravitation, as well as his three laws of motion. Newton’s nemesis Robert Hooke again caused trouble because he wanted some of the credit for Newton’s discoveries. This made the Royal Society unwilling to publish Newton’s book Principia Mathematica, but Newton’s friend Edmund Halley privately financed the publication of the book in 1687. Meanwhile, there was again conflict between politics, religion, and education in 1685 when King James II desired Trinity College to award degrees to people who had the same religious beliefs as him, even if those people hadn’t earned the degrees. Newton and eight other teachers refused to do this and were brought before the High Court, but the trumped-up charges against them were dismissed.
During 1689 and 1690, Newton represented Cambridge in Parliament, but he had a nervous breakdown in 1690 due to the many years of working long hours and great stress. After this, Newton spent several years studying the Bible and writing theological books. In 1696, Newton was appointed Warden of the Mint; he supervised the replacement of old, damaged coins with new, durable ones, and he defeated a counterfeiting ring. In 1701 Newton returned to Parliament for a brief time, and in 1703 he was elected to become the president of the Royal Society, which he was re-elected to every year for the rest of his life. Then, in 1705, England officially recognized Isaac Newton’s contributions when he received the first ever knighthood for science. Sir Isaac Newton died in 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
In conclusion, Sir Isaac Newton was a great scientist, theologian, and mathematician who contributed much to every field he was involved in. However, my favorite thing about Newton is that he had a first cousin named Robert Newton who came to America in the 1600s and had kids who had kids who had kids, and 400 years later had me. Isaac Newton, my first cousin ten times removed, was a great man who will be in the history books forever.
Can’t you see the similarities between us?
One more fun fact: Isaac Newton predicted that Jesus will return in 2060, starting the Millenium. Statement on the Date 2060 | Isaac Newton (isaac-newton.org)
Comentarios