isaac newton biography in nepali

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Isaac Newton

By: History.com Editors

Updated: October 16, 2023 | Original: March 10, 2015

Isaac Newton is best know for his theory about the law of gravity, but his “Principia Mathematica” (1686) with its three laws of motion greatly influenced the Enlightenment in Europe. Born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England, Sir Isaac Newton began developing his theories on light, calculus and celestial mechanics while on break from Cambridge University. 

Years of research culminated with the 1687 publication of “Principia,” a landmark work that established the universal laws of motion and gravity. Newton’s second major book, “Opticks,” detailed his experiments to determine the properties of light. Also a student of Biblical history and alchemy, the famed scientist served as president of the Royal Society of London and master of England’s Royal Mint until his death in 1727.

Isaac Newton: Early Life and Education

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The son of a farmer who died three months before he was born, Newton spent most of his early years with his maternal grandmother after his mother remarried. His education was interrupted by a failed attempt to turn him into a farmer, and he attended the King’s School in Grantham before enrolling at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661.

Newton studied a classical curriculum at Cambridge, but he became fascinated by the works of modern philosophers such as René Descartes, even devoting a set of notes to his outside readings he titled “Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae” (“Certain Philosophical Questions”). When the Great Plague shuttered Cambridge in 1665, Newton returned home and began formulating his theories on calculus, light and color, his farm the setting for the supposed falling apple that inspired his work on gravity.

Isaac Newton’s Telescope and Studies on Light

Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and was elected a minor fellow. He constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1668, and the following year he received his Master of Arts degree and took over as Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. Asked to give a demonstration of his telescope to the Royal Society of London in 1671, he was elected to the Royal Society the following year and published his notes on optics for his peers.

Through his experiments with refraction, Newton determined that white light was a composite of all the colors on the spectrum, and he asserted that light was composed of particles instead of waves. His methods drew sharp rebuke from established Society member Robert Hooke, who was unsparing again with Newton’s follow-up paper in 1675. 

Known for his temperamental defense of his work, Newton engaged in heated correspondence with Hooke before suffering a nervous breakdown and withdrawing from the public eye in 1678. In the following years, he returned to his earlier studies on the forces governing gravity and dabbled in alchemy.

Isaac Newton and the Law of Gravity

In 1684, English astronomer Edmund Halley paid a visit to the secluded Newton. Upon learning that Newton had mathematically worked out the elliptical paths of celestial bodies, Halley urged him to organize his notes. 

The result was the 1687 publication of “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which established the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity. Newton’s three laws of motion state that (1) Every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it; (2) Force equals mass times acceleration: F=MA and (3) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

“Principia” propelled Newton to stardom in intellectual circles, eventually earning universal acclaim as one of the most important works of modern science. His work was a foundational part of the European Enlightenment .

With his newfound influence, Newton opposed the attempts of King James II to reinstitute Catholic teachings at English Universities. King James II was replaced by his protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and Newton was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament in 1689. 

Newton moved to London permanently after being named warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, earning a promotion to master of the Mint three years later. Determined to prove his position wasn’t merely symbolic, Newton moved the pound sterling from the silver to the gold standard and sought to punish counterfeiters.

The death of Hooke in 1703 allowed Newton to take over as president of the Royal Society, and the following year he published his second major work, “Opticks.” Composed largely from his earlier notes on the subject, the book detailed Newton’s painstaking experiments with refraction and the color spectrum, closing with his ruminations on such matters as energy and electricity. In 1705, he was knighted by Queen Anne of England.

Isaac Newton: Founder of Calculus?

Around this time, the debate over Newton’s claims to originating the field of calculus exploded into a nasty dispute. Newton had developed his concept of “fluxions” (differentials) in the mid 1660s to account for celestial orbits, though there was no public record of his work. 

In the meantime, German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz formulated his own mathematical theories and published them in 1684. As president of the Royal Society, Newton oversaw an investigation that ruled his work to be the founding basis of the field, but the debate continued even after Leibniz’s death in 1716. Researchers later concluded that both men likely arrived at their conclusions independent of one another.

Death of Isaac Newton

Newton was also an ardent student of history and religious doctrines, and his writings on those subjects were compiled into multiple books that were published posthumously. Having never married, Newton spent his later years living with his niece at Cranbury Park near Winchester, England. He died in his sleep on March 31, 1727, and was buried in Westminster Abbey .

A giant even among the brilliant minds that drove the Scientific Revolution, Newton is remembered as a transformative scholar, inventor and writer. He eradicated any doubts about the heliocentric model of the universe by establishing celestial mechanics, his precise methodology giving birth to what is known as the scientific method. Although his theories of space-time and gravity eventually gave way to those of Albert Einstein , his work remains the bedrock on which modern physics was built.

Isaac Newton Quotes

• “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
• “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.”
• “What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.”
• “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.”
• “No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”

HISTORY Vault: Sir Isaac Newton: Gravity of Genius

Explore the life of Sir Isaac Newton, who laid the foundations for calculus and defined the laws of gravity.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• Table of Contents
• Random Entry
• Chronological
• Editorial Information
• About the SEP
• Editorial Board
• How to Cite the SEP
• Special Characters
• Advanced Tools
• Support the SEP
• PDFs for SEP Friends
• Make a Donation
• SEPIA for Libraries
• Entry Contents

Bibliography

Academic tools.

• Friends PDF Preview
• Author and Citation Info
• Back to Top

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is best known for having invented the calculus in the mid to late 1660s (most of a decade before Leibniz did so independently, and ultimately more influentially) and for having formulated the theory of universal gravity — the latter in his Principia , the single most important work in the transformation of early modern natural philosophy into modern physical science. Yet he also made major discoveries in optics beginning in the mid-1660s and reaching across four decades; and during the course of his 60 years of intense intellectual activity he put no less effort into chemical and alchemical research and into theology and biblical studies than he put into mathematics and physics. He became a dominant figure in Britain almost immediately following publication of his Principia in 1687, with the consequence that “Newtonianism” of one form or another had become firmly rooted there within the first decade of the eighteenth century. His influence on the continent, however, was delayed by the strong opposition to his theory of gravity expressed by such leading figures as Christiaan Huygens and Leibniz, both of whom saw the theory as invoking an occult power of action at a distance in the absence of Newton's having proposed a contact mechanism by means of which forces of gravity could act. As the promise of the theory of gravity became increasingly substantiated, starting in the late 1730s but especially during the 1740s and 1750s, Newton became an equally dominant figure on the continent, and “Newtonianism,” though perhaps in more guarded forms, flourished there as well. What physics textbooks now refer to as “Newtonian mechanics” and “Newtonian science” consists mostly of results achieved on the continent between 1740 and 1800.

1.1 Newton's Early Years

1.2 newton's years at cambridge prior to principia, 1.3 newton's final years at cambridge, 1.4 newton's years in london and his final years, 2. newton's work and influence, primary sources, secondary sources, other internet resources, related entries, 1. newton's life.

Newton's life naturally divides into four parts: the years before he entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661; his years in Cambridge before the Principia was published in 1687; a period of almost a decade immediately following this publication, marked by the renown it brought him and his increasing disenchantment with Cambridge; and his final three decades in London, for most of which he was Master of the Mint. While he remained intellectually active during his years in London, his legendary advances date almost entirely from his years in Cambridge. Nevertheless, save for his optical papers of the early 1670s and the first edition of the Principia , all his works published before he died fell within his years in London. [ 1 ]

Newton was born into a Puritan family in Woolsthorpe, a small village in Linconshire near Grantham, on 25 December 1642 (old calendar), a few days short of one year after Galileo died. Isaac's father, a farmer, died two months before Isaac was born. When his mother Hannah married the 63 year old Barnabas Smith three years later and moved to her new husband's residence, Isaac was left behind with his maternal grandparents. (Isaac learned to read and write from his maternal grandmother and mother, both of whom, unlike his father, were literate.) Hannah returned to Woolsthorpe with three new children in 1653, after Smith died. Two years later Isaac went to boarding school in Grantham, returning full time to manage the farm, not very successfully, in 1659. Hannah's brother, who had received an M.A. from Cambridge, and the headmaster of the Grantham school then persuaded his mother that Isaac should prepare for the university. After further schooling at Grantham, he entered Trinity College in 1661, somewhat older than most of his classmates.

These years of Newton's youth were the most turbulent in the history of England. The English Civil War had begun in 1642, King Charles was beheaded in 1649, Oliver Cromwell ruled as lord protector from 1653 until he died in 1658, followed by his son Richard from 1658 to 1659, leading to the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. How much the political turmoil of these years affected Newton and his family is unclear, but the effect on Cambridge and other universities was substantial, if only through unshackling them for a period from the control of the Anglican Catholic Church. The return of this control with the restoration was a key factor inducing such figures as Robert Boyle to turn to Charles II for support for what in 1660 emerged as the Royal Society of London. The intellectual world of England at the time Newton matriculated to Cambridge was thus very different from what it was when he was born.

Newton's initial education at Cambridge was classical, focusing (primarily through secondary sources) on Aristotlean rhetoric, logic, ethics, and physics. By 1664, Newton had begun reaching beyond the standard curriculum, reading, for example, the 1656 Latin edition of Descartes's Opera philosophica , which included the Meditations , Discourse on Method , the Dioptrics , and the Principles of Philosophy . By early 1664 he had also begun teaching himself mathematics, taking notes on works by Oughtred, Viète, Wallis, and Descartes — the latter via van Schooten's Latin translation, with commentary, of the Géométrie . Newton spent all but three months from the summer of 1665 until the spring of 1667 at home in Woolsthorpe when the university was closed because of the plague. This period was his so-called annus mirabilis . During it, he made his initial experimental discoveries in optics and developed (independently of Huygens's treatment of 1659) the mathematical theory of uniform circular motion, in the process noting the relationship between the inverse-square and Kepler's rule relating the square of the planetary periods to the cube of their mean distance from the Sun. Even more impressively, by late 1666 he had become de facto the leading mathematician in the world, having extended his earlier examination of cutting-edge problems into the discovery of the calculus, as presented in his tract of October 1666. He returned to Trinity as a Fellow in 1667, where he continued his research in optics, constructing his first reflecting telescope in 1669, and wrote a more extended tract on the calculus “De Analysi per Æquations Numero Terminorum Infinitas” incorporating new work on infinite series. On the basis of this tract Isaac Barrow recommended Newton as his replacement as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position he assumed in October 1669, four and a half years after he had received his Bachelor of Arts.

Over the course of the next fifteen years as Lucasian Professor Newton presented his lectures and carried on research in a variety of areas. By 1671 he had completed most of a treatise length account of the calculus, [ 2 ] which he then found no one would publish. This failure appears to have diverted his interest in mathematics away from the calculus for some time, for the mathematical lectures he registered during this period mostly concern algebra. (During the early 1680s he undertook a critical review of classical texts in geometry, a review that reduced his view of the importance of symbolic mathematics.) His lectures from 1670 to 1672 concerned optics, with a large range of experiments presented in detail. Newton went public with his work in optics in early 1672, submitting material that was read before the Royal Society and then published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . This led to four years of exchanges with various figures who challenged his claims, including both Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens — exchanges that at times exasperated Newton to the point that he chose to withdraw from further public exchanges in natural philosophy. Before he largely isolated himself in the late 1670s, however, he had also engaged in a series of sometimes long exchanges in the mid 1670s, most notably with John Collins (who had a copy of “De Analysi”) and Leibniz, concerning his work on the calculus. So, though they remained unpublished, Newton's advances in mathematics scarcely remained a secret.

This period as Lucasian Professor also marked the beginning of his more private researches in alchemy and theology. Newton purchased chemical apparatus and treatises in alchemy in 1669, with experiments in chemistry extending across this entire period. The issue of the vows Newton might have to take in conjunction with the Lucasian Professorship also appears to have precipitated his study of the doctrine of the Trinity, which opened the way to his questioning the validity of a good deal more doctrine central to the Roman and Anglican Churches.

Newton showed little interest in orbital astronomy during this period until Hooke initiated a brief correspondence with him in an effort to solicit material for the Royal Society at the end of November 1679, shortly after Newton had returned to Cambridge following the death of his mother. Among the several problems Hooke proposed to Newton was the question of the trajectory of a body under an inverse-square central force:

It now remaines to know the proprietys of a curve Line (not circular nor concentricall) made by a centrall attractive power which makes the velocitys of Descent from the tangent Line or equall straight motion at all Distances in a Duplicate proportion to the Distances Reciprocally taken. I doubt not but that by your excellent method you will easily find out what the Curve must be, and it proprietys, and suggest a physicall Reason of this proportion. [ 3 ]

Newton apparently discovered the systematic relationship between conic-section trajectories and inverse-square central forces at the time, but did not communicate it to anyone, and for reasons that remain unclear did not follow up this discovery until Halley, during a visit in the summer of 1684, put the same question to him. His immediate answer was, an ellipse; and when he was unable to produce the paper on which he had made this determination, he agreed to forward an account to Halley in London. Newton fulfilled this commitment in November by sending Halley a nine-folio-page manuscript, “De Motu Corporum in Gyrum” (“On the Motion of Bodies in Orbit”), which was entered into the Register of the Royal Society in early December 1684. The body of this tract consists of ten deduced propositions — three theorems and seven problems — all of which, along with their corollaries, recur in important propositions in the Principia .

Save for a few weeks away from Cambridge, from late 1684 until early 1687, Newton concentrated on lines of research that expanded the short ten-proposition tract into the 500 page Principia , with its 192 derived propositions. Initially the work was to have a two book structure, but Newton subsequently shifted to three books, and replaced the original version of the final book with one more mathematically demanding. The manuscript for Book 1 was sent to London in the spring of 1686, and the manuscripts for Books 2 and 3, in March and April 1687, respectively. The roughly three hundred copies of the Principia came off the press in the summer of 1687, thrusting the 44 year old Newton into the forefront of natural philosophy and forever ending his life of comparative isolation.

The years between the publication of the Principia and Newton's permanent move to London in 1696 were marked by his increasing disenchantment with his situation in Cambridge. In January 1689, following the Glorious Revolution at the end of 1688, he was elected to represent Cambridge University in the Convention Parliament, which he did until January 1690. During this time he formed friendships with John Locke and Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, and in the summer of 1689 he finally met Christiaan Huygens face to face for two extended discussions. Perhaps because of disappointment with Huygens not being convinced by the argument for universal gravity, in the early 1690s Newton initiated a radical rewriting of the Principia . During these same years he wrote (but withheld) his principal treatise in alchemy, Praxis ; he corresponded with Richard Bentley on religion and allowed Locke to read some of his writings on the subject; he once again entered into an effort to put his work on the calculus in a form suitable for publication; and he carried out experiments on diffraction with the intent of completing his Opticks , only to withhold the manuscript from publication because of dissatisfaction with its treatment of diffraction. The radical revision of the Principia became abandoned by 1693, during the middle of which Newton suffered, by his own testimony, what in more recent times would be called a nervous breakdown. In the two years following his recovery that autumn, he continued his experiments in chymistry and he put substantial effort into trying to refine and extend the gravity-based theory of the lunar orbit in the Principia , but with less success than he had hoped.

Throughout these years Newton showed interest in a position of significance in London, but again with less success than he had hoped until he accepted the relatively minor position of Warden of the Mint in early 1696, a position he held until he became Master of the Mint at the end of 1699. He again represented Cambridge University in Parliament for 16 months, beginning in 1701, the year in which he resigned his Fellowship at Trinity College and the Lucasian Professorship. He was elected President of the Royal Society in 1703 and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705.

Newton thus became a figure of imminent authority in London over the rest of his life, in face-to-face contact with individuals of power and importance in ways that he had not known in his Cambridge years. His everyday home life changed no less dramatically when his extraordinarily vivacious teenage niece, Catherine Barton, the daughter of his half-sister Hannah, moved in with him shortly after he moved to London, staying until she married John Conduitt in 1717, and after that remaining in close contact. (It was through her and her husband that Newton's papers came down to posterity.) Catherine was socially prominent among the powerful and celebrated among the literati for the years before she married, and her husband was among the wealthiest men of London.

The London years saw Newton embroiled in some nasty disputes, probably made the worse by the ways in which he took advantage of his position of authority in the Royal Society. In the first years of his Presidency he became involved in a dispute with John Flamsteed in which he and Halley, long ill-disposed toward the Flamsteed, violated the trust of the Royal Astronomer, turning him into a permanent enemy. Ill feelings between Newton and Leibniz had been developing below the surface from even before Huygens had died in 1695, and they finally came to a head in 1710 when John Keill accused Leibniz in the Philosophical Transactions of having plagiarized the calculus from Newton and Leibniz, a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1673, demanded redress from the Society. The Society's 1712 published response was anything but redress. Newton not only was a dominant figure in this response, but then published an outspoken anonymous review of it in 1715 in the Philosophical Transactions . Leibniz and his colleagues on the Continent had never been comfortable with the Principia and its implication of action at a distance. With the priority dispute this attitude turned into one of open hostility toward Newton's theory of gravity — a hostility that was matched in its blindness by the fervor of acceptance of the theory in England. The public elements of the priority dispute had the effect of expanding a schism between Newton and Leibniz into a schism between the English associated with the Royal Society and the group who had been working with Leibniz on the calculus since the 1690s, including most notably Johann Bernoulli, and this schism in turn transformed into one between the conduct of science and mathematics in England versus the Continent that persisted long after Leibniz died in 1716.

Although Newton obviously had far less time available to devote to solitary research during his London years than he had had in Cambridge, he did not entirely cease to be productive. The first (English) edition of his Opticks finally appeared in 1704, appended to which were two mathematical treatises, his first work on the calculus to appear in print. This edition was followed by a Latin edition in 1706 and a second English edition in 1717, each containing important Queries on key topics in natural philosophy beyond those in its predecessor. Other earlier work in mathematics began to appear in print, including a work on algebra, Arithmetica Universalis , in 1707 and “De Analysi” and a tract on finite differences, “Methodis differentialis” in 1711. The second edition of the Principia , on which Newton had begun work at the age of 66 in 1709, was published in 1713, with a third edition in 1726. Though the original plan for a radical restructuring had long been abandoned, the fact that virtually every page of the Principia received some modifications in the second edition shows how carefully Newton, often prodded by his editor Roger Cotes, reconsidered everything in it; and important parts were substantially rewritten not only in response to Continental criticisms, but also because of new data, including data from experiments on resistance forces carried out in London. Focused effort on the third edition began in 1723, when Newton was 80 years old, and while the revisions are far less extensive than in the second edition, it does contain substantive additions and modfications, and it surely has claim to being the edition that represents his most considered views.

Newton died on 20 March 1727 at the age of 84. His contemporaries' conception of him nevertheless continued to expand as a consequence of various posthumous publications, including The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728); the work originally intended to be the last book of the Principia , The System of the World (1728, in both English and Latin); Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733); A Treatise of the Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series (1737); A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews (1737), and Four Letters from Sir Isaac Newton to Doctor Bentley concerning Some Arguments in Proof of a Deity (1756). Even then, however, the works that had been published represented only a limited fraction of the total body of papers that had been left in the hands of Catherine and John Conduitt. The five volume collection of Newton's works edited by Samuel Horsley (1779–85) did not alter this situation. Through the marriage of the Conduitts' daughter Catherine and subsequent inheritance, this body of papers came into the possession of Lord Portsmouth, who agreed in 1872 to allow it to be reviewed by scholars at Cambridge University (John Couch Adams, George Stokes, H. R. Luard, and G. D. Liveing). They issued a catalogue in 1888, and the university then retained all the papers of a scientific character. With the notable exception of W. W. Rouse Ball, little work was done on the scientific papers before World War II. The remaining papers were returned to Lord Portsmouth, and then ultimately sold at auction in 1936 to various parties. Serious scholarly work on them did not get underway until the 1970s, and much remains to be done on them.

Three factors stand in the way of giving an account of Newton's work and influence. First is the contrast between the public Newton, consisting of publications in his lifetime and in the decade or two following his death, and the private Newton, consisting of his unpublished work in math and physics, his efforts in chymistry — that is, the 17th century blend of alchemy and chemistry — and his writings in radical theology — material that has become public mostly since World War II. Only the public Newton influenced the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, yet any account of Newton himself confined to this material can at best be only fragmentary. Second is the contrast, often shocking, between the actual content of Newton's public writings and the positions attributed to him by others, including most importantly his popularizers. The term “Newtonian” refers to several different intellectual strands unfolding in the eighteenth century, some of them tied more closely to Voltaire, Pemberton, and Maclaurin — or for that matter to those who saw themselves as extending his work, such as Clairaut, Euler, d'Alembert, Lagrange, and Laplace — than to Newton himself. Third is the contrast between the enormous range of subjects to which Newton devoted his full concentration at one time or another during the 60 years of his intellectual career — mathematics, optics, mechanics, astronomy, experimental chemistry, alchemy, and theology — and the remarkably little information we have about what drove him or his sense of himself. Biographers and analysts who try to piece together a unified picture of Newton and his intellectual endeavors often end up telling us almost as much about themselves as about Newton.

Compounding the diversity of the subjects to which Newton devoted time are sharp contrasts in his work within each subject. Optics and orbital mechanics both fall under what we now call physics, and even then they were seen as tied to one another, as indicated by Descartes' first work on the subject, Le Monde, ou Traité de la lumierè . Nevertheless, two very different “Newtonian” traditions in physics arose from Newton's Opticks and Principia : from his Opticks a tradition centered on meticulous experimentation and from his Principia a tradition centered on mathematical theory. The most important element common to these two was Newton's deep commitment to having the empirical world serve not only as the ultimate arbiter, but also as the sole basis for adopting provisional theory. Throughout all of this work he displayed distrust of what was then known as the method of hypotheses – putting forward hypotheses that reach beyond all known phenomena and then testing them by deducing observable conclusions from them. Newton insisted instead on having specific phenomena decide each element of theory, with the goal of limiting the provisional aspect of theory as much as possible to the step of inductively generalizing from the specific phenomena. This stance is perhaps best summarized in his fourth Rule of Reasoning, added in the third edition of the Principia , but adopted as early as his Optical Lectures of the 1670s:

In experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction should be taken to be either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions. This rule should be followed so that arguments based on induction may not be nullified by hypotheses.

Such a commitment to empirically driven science was a hallmark of the Royal Society from its very beginnings, and one can find it in the research of Kepler, Galileo, Huygens, and in the experimental efforts of the Royal Academy of Paris. Newton, however, carried this commitment further first by eschewing the method of hypotheses and second by displaying in his Principia and Opticks how rich a set of theoretical results can be secured through well-designed experiments and mathematical theory designed to allow inferences from phenomena. The success of those after him in building on these theoretical results completed the process of transforming natural philosophy into modern empirical science.

Newton's commitment to having phenomena decide the elements of theory required questions to be left open when no available phenomena could decide them. Newton contrasted himself most strongly with Leibniz in this regard at the end of his anonymous review of the Royal Society's report on the priority dispute over the calculus:

It must be allowed that these two Gentlemen differ very much in Philosophy. The one proceeds upon the Evidence arising from Experiments and Phenomena, and stops where such Evidence is wanting; the other is taken up with Hypotheses, and propounds them, not to be examined by Experiments, but to be believed without Examination. The one for want of Experiments to decide the Question, doth not affirm whether the Cause of Gravity be Mechanical or not Mechanical; the other that it is a perpetual Miracle if it be not Mechanical.

Newton could have said much the same about the question of what light consists of, waves or particles, for while he felt that the latter was far more probable, he saw it still not decided by any experiment or phenomenon in his lifetime. Leaving questions about the ultimate cause of gravity and the constitution of light open was the other factor in his work driving a wedge between natural philosophy and empirical science.

The many other areas of Newton's intellectual endeavors made less of a difference to eighteenth century philosophy and science. In mathematics, Newton was the first to develop a full range of algorithms for symbolically determining what we now call integrals and derivatives, but he subsequently became fundamentally opposed to the idea, championed by Leibniz, of transforming mathematics into a discipline grounded in symbol manipulation. Newton thought the only way of rendering limits rigorous lay in extending geometry to incorporate them, a view that went entirely against the tide in the development of mathematics in the eighteenth and nineteenth ceturies. In chemistry Newton conducted a vast array of experiments, but the experimental tradition coming out of his Opticks , and not his experiments in chemistry, lay behind Lavoisier calling himself a Newtonian; indeed, one must wonder whether Lavoisier would even have associated his new form of chemistry with Newton had he been aware of Newton's fascination with writings in the alchemical tradition. And even in theology, there is Newton the anti-Trinitarian mild heretic who was not that much more radical in his departures from Roman and Anglican Christianity than many others at the time, and Newton, the wild religious zealot predicting the end of the Earth, who did not emerge to public view until quite recently.

There is surprisingly little cross-referencing of themes from one area of Newton's endeavors to another. The common element across almost all of them is that of a problem-solver extraordinaire , taking on one problem at a time and staying with it until he had found, usually rather promptly, a solution. All of his technical writings display this, but so too does his unpublished manuscript reconstructing Solomon's Temple from the biblical account of it and his posthumously published Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms in which he attempted to infer from astronomical phenomena the dating of major events in the Old Testament. The Newton one encounters in his writings seems to compartmentalize his interests at any given moment. Whether he had a unified conception of what he was up to in all his intellectual efforts, and if so what this conception might be, has been a continuing source of controversy among Newton scholars.

Of course, were it not for the Principia , there would be no entry at all for Newton in an Encyclopedia of Philosophy. In science, he would have been known only for the contributions he made to optics, which, while notable, were no more so than those made by Huygens and Grimaldi, neither of whom had much impact on philosophy; and in mathematics, his failure to publish would have relegated his work to not much more than a footnote to the achievements of Leibniz and his school. Regardless of which aspect of Newton's endeavors “Newtonian” might be applied to, the word gained its aura from the Principia . But this adds still a further complication, for the Principia itself was substantially different things to different people. The press-run of the first edition (estimated to be around 300) was too small for it to have been read by all that many individuals. The second edition also appeared in two pirated Amsterdam editions, and hence was much more widely available, as was the third edition and its English (and later French) translation. The Principia , however, is not an easy book to read, so one must still ask, even of those who had access to it, whether they read all or only portions of the book and to what extent they grasped the full complexity of what they read. The detailed commentary provided in the three volume Jesuit edition (1739–42) made the work less daunting. But even then the vast majority of those invoking the word “Newtonian” were unlikely to have been much more conversant with the Principia itself than those in the first half of the 20th century who invoked ‘relativity’ were likely to have read Einstein's two special relativity papers of 1905 or his general relativity paper of 1916. An important question to ask of any philosophers commenting on Newton is, what primary sources had they read?

The 1740s witnessed a major transformation in the standing of the science in the Principia . The Principia itself had left a number of loose-ends, most of them detectable by only highly discerning readers. By 1730, however, some of these loose-ends had been cited in Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's elogium for Newton [ 4 ] and in John Machin's appendix to the 1729 English translation of the Principia , raising questions about just how secure Newton's theory of gravity was, empirically. The shift on the continent began in the 1730s when Maupertuis convinced the Royal Academy to conduct expeditions to Lapland and Peru to determine whether Newton's claims about the non-spherical shape of the Earth and the variation of surface gravity with latitude are correct. Several of the loose-ends were successfully resolved during the 1740's through such notable advances beyond the Principia as Clairaut's Théorie de la Figure de la Terre ; the return of the expedition from Peru; d'Alembert's 1749 rigid-body solution for the wobble of the Earth that produces the precession of the equinoxes; Clairaut's 1749 resolution of the factor of 2 discrepancy between theory and observation in the mean motion of the lunar apogee, glossed over by Newton but emphasized by Machin; and the prize-winning first ever successful description of the motion of the Moon by Tobias Mayer in 1753, based on a theory of this motion derived from gravity by Euler in the early 1750s taking advantage of Clairaut's solution for the mean motion of the apogee.

Euler was the central figure in turning the three laws of motion put forward by Newton in the Principia into Newtonian mechanics. These three laws, as Newton formulated them, apply to “point-masses,” a term Euler had put forward in his Mechanica of 1736. Most of the effort of eighteenth century mechanics was devoted to solving problems of the motion of rigid bodies, elastic strings and bodies, and fluids, all of which require principles beyond Newton's three laws. From the 1740s on this led to alternative approaches to formulating a general mechanics, employing such different principles as the conservation of vis viva , the principle of least action, and d'Alembert's principle. The “Newtonian” formulation of a general mechanics sprang from Euler's proposal in 1750 that Newton's second law, in an F=ma formulation that appears nowhere in the Principia , could be applied locally within bodies and fluids to yield differential equations for the motions of bodies, elastic and rigid, and fluids. During the 1750s Euler developed his equations for the motion of fluids, and in the 1760s, his equations of rigid-body motion. What we call Newtonian mechanics was accordingly something for which Euler was more responsible than Newton.

Although some loose-ends continued to defy resolution until much later in the eighteenth century, by the early 1750s Newton's theory of gravity had become the accepted basis for ongoing research among almost everyone working in orbital astronomy. Clairaut's successful prediction of the month of return of Halley's comet at the end of this decade made a larger segment of the educated public aware of the extent to which empirical grounds for doubting Newton's theory of gravity had largely disappeared. Even so, one must still ask of anyone outside active research in gravitational astronomy just how aware they were of the developments from ongoing efforts when they made their various pronouncements about the standing of the science of the Principia among the community of researchers. The naivety of these pronouncements cuts both ways: on the one hand, they often reflected a bloated view of how secure Newton's theory was at the time, and, on the other, they often underestimated how strong the evidence favoring it had become. The upshot is a need to be attentive to the question of what anyone, even including Newton himself, had in mind when they spoke of the science of the Principia .

To view the seventy years of research after Newton died as merely tying up the loose-ends of the Principia or as simply compiling more evidence for his theory of gravity is to miss the whole point. Research predicated on Newton's theory had answered a huge number of questions about the world dating from long before it. The motion of the Moon and the trajectories of comets were two early examples, both of which answered such questions as how one comet differs from another and what details make the Moon's motion so much more complicated than that of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. In the 1770s Laplace had developed a proper theory of the tides, reaching far beyond the suggestions Newton had made in the Principia by including the effects of the Earth's rotation and the non-radial components of the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon, components that dominate the radial component that Newton had singled out. In 1786 Laplace identified a large 900 year fluctuation in the motions of Jupiter and Saturn arising from quite subtle features of their respective orbits. With this discovery, calculation of the motion of the planets from the theory of gravity became the basis for predicting planet positions, with observation serving primarily to identify further forces not yet taken into consideration in the calculation. These advances in our understanding of planetary motion led Laplace to produce the four principal volumes of his Traité de mécanique céleste from 1799 to 1805, a work collecting in one place all the theoretical and empirical results of the research predicated on Newton's Principia . From that time forward, Newtonian science sprang from Laplace's work, not Newton's.

The success of the research in celestial mechanics predicated on the Principia was unprecedented. Nothing of comparable scope and accuracy had ever occurred before in empirical research of any kind. That led to a new philosophical question: what was it about the science of the Principia that enabled it to achieve what it did? Philosophers like Locke and Berkeley began asking this question while Newton was still alive, but it gained increasing force as successes piled on one another over the decades after he died. This question had a practical side, as those working in other fields like chemistry pursued comparable success, and others like Hume and Adam Smith aimed for a science of human affairs. It had, of course, a philosophical side, giving rise to the subdiscipline of philosophy of science, starting with Kant and continuing throughout the nineteenth century as other areas of physical science began showing similar signs of success. The Einsteinian revolution in the beginning of the twentieth century, in which Newtonian theory was shown to hold only as a limiting case of the special and general theories of relativity, added a further twist to the question, for now all the successes of Newtonian science, which still remain in place, have to be seen as predicated on a theory that holds only to high approximation in parochial circumstances.

The extraordinary character of the Principia gave rise to a still continuing tendency to place great weight on everything Newton said. This, however, was, and still is, easy to carry to excess. One need look no further than Book 2 of the Principia to see that Newton had no more claim to being somehow in tune with nature and the truth than any number of his contemporaries. Newton's manuscripts do reveal an exceptional level of attention to detail of phrasing, from which we can rightly conclude that his pronouncements, especially in print, were generally backed by careful, self-critical reflection. But this conclusion does not automatically extend to every statement he ever made. We must constantly be mindful of the possibility of too much weight being placed, then or now, on any pronouncement that stands in relative isolation over his 60 year career; and, to counter the tendency to excess, we should be even more vigilant than usual in not losing sight of the context, circumstantial as well as historical and textual, of both Newton's statements and the eighteenth century reaction to them.

• Westfall, Richard S., 1980, Never At Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton , New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Hall, A. Rupert, 1992 , Isaac Newton: Adventurer in Thought , Oxford: Blackwell.
• Feingold, Mordechai, 2004 , The Newtonian Moment: Isaac Newton and the Making of Modern Culture , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Iliffe, Rob, 2007, Newton: A Very Short Introduction Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Cohen, I. B. and Smith, G. E., 2002, The Cambridge Companion to Newton , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Cohen, I. B. and Westfall, R. S., 1995, Newton: Texts, Backgrounds, and Commentaries , A Norton Critical Edition, New York: Norton.

How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

• MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
• The Newton Project
• The Newton Project-Canada
• The Chymistry of Isaac Newton , Digital Library at Indiana

Copernicus, Nicolaus | Descartes, René | Kant, Immanuel | Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm | Newton, Isaac: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica | scientific revolutions | trinity | Whewell, William

Copyright © 2007 by George Smith < george . smith @ tufts . edu >

• Accessibility

Support SEP

Mirror sites.

View this site from another server:

• Info about mirror sites

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is copyright © 2024 by The Metaphysics Research Lab , Department of Philosophy, Stanford University

Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054

• BOOKS All Books New Releases Bestsellers Current Bestsellers Award Winners New Arrivals On Amazon PDFs Nepali Language English Language Other Languages Upcoming Books Book Genres Book Lists Authors Publishers Fiction Biography & Memoirs Poetry Short Stories Literature/Essays Health & Fitness Travel Self-help Business & Economics History Religion & Spirituality Political/Social Children Sciences Learning & Reference
• E-BOOKS All E-books New E-books Singles Bestsellers Current Bestsellers Award Winners Free E-books PDFs Nepali Unicode E-books
• PICKS New Releases Bestsellers Award Winners Recent E-books Bestselling E-books Free E-books
• +977-9801866333

The Principia

About the book.

How Isaac Newton Changed Our World

He created the modern telescope

Before Newton, standard telescopes provided magnification, but with drawbacks. Known as refracting telescopes, they used glass lenses that changed the direction of different colors at different angles. This caused “chromatic aberrations,” or fuzzy, out-of-focus areas around objects being viewed through the telescope.

After much tinkering and testing, including grinding his own lenses, Newton found a solution. He replaced the refracting lenses with mirrored ones, including a large, concave mirror to show the primary image and a smaller, flat, reflecting one, to display that image to the eye. Newton’s new “reflecting telescope” was more powerful than previous versions, and because he used the small mirror to bounce the image to the eye, he could build a much smaller, more practical telescope. In fact, his first model, which he built in 1668 and donated to England’s Royal Society, was just six inches long (some 10 times smaller than other telescopes of the era), but could magnify objects by 40x.

Newton’s simple telescope design is still used today, by both backyard astronomers and NASA scientists.

Newton helped develop spectral analysis

The next time you look up at a rainbow in the sky, you can thank Newton for helping us first understand and identify its seven colors. He began working on his studies of light and color even before creating the reflecting telescope, although he presented much of his evidence several years later, in his 1704 book, Opticks .

Before Newton, scientists primarily adhered to ancient theories on color, including those of Aristotle , who believed that all colors came from lightness (white) and darkness (black). Some even believed that the colors of the rainbow were formed by rainwater that colored the sky’s rays. Newton disagreed. He performed a seemingly endless series of experiments to prove his theories.

Working in his darkened room, he directed white light through a crystal prism on a wall, which separated into the seven colors we now know as the color spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). Scientists already knew many of these colors existed, but they believed that the prism itself transformed white light into these colors. But when Newton refracted these same colors back onto another prism, they formed into a white light, proving that white light (and sunlight) was actually a combination of all the colors of the rainbow.

Newton’s laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics

In 1687, Newton published one of the most important scientific books in history, the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica , commonly known as the Principa . It was in this work that he first laid out his three laws of motion.

The law of inertia states that at rest or in motion will remain at rest or in motion unless it’s acted upon by an external force. So, with this law, Newton helps us explain why a car will stop when it hits a wall, but the human bodies within the car will keep moving at the same, constant speed they had been until the bodies hit an external force, like a dashboard or airbag. It also explains why an object thrown in space is likely to continue at the same speed on the same path for infinity unless it comes into another object that exerts force to slow it down or change direction.

You can see an example of his second law of acceleration when you ride a bicycle. In his equation that force equals mass times acceleration, or F=ma , your pedaling of a bicycle creates the force necessary to accelerate. Newton’s law also explains why larger or heavier objects require more force to move or alter them, and why hitting a small object with a baseball bat would produce more damage than hitting a large object with that same bat.

His third law of action and reaction creates a simple symmetry to the understanding of the world around us: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you sit in a chair, you are exerting force down upon the chair, but the chair is exerting equal force to keep you upright. And when a rocket is launched into space, it’s thanks to the backward force of the rocket upon gas and the forward thrust of the gas on the rocket.

He created the law of universal gravitation and calculus

The Principa also contained some of Newton’s first published works on the motion of the planets and gravity. According to a popular legend, a young Newton was sitting beneath a tree on his family’s farm when the falling of an apple inspired one of his most famous theories. It’s impossible to know if this is true (and Newton himself only began telling the story as an older man), but is a helpful story to explain the science behind gravity. It also remained the basis of classical mechanics until Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Newton worked out that if the force of gravity pulled the apple from the tree, then it was also possible for gravity to exert its pull on objects much, much further away. Newton’s theory helped prove that all objects, as small as an apple and as large as a planet, are subject to gravity. Gravity helped keep the planets rotating around the sun and creates the ebbs and flows of rivers and tides. Newton’s law also states that larger bodies with heavier masses exert more gravitational pull, which is why those who walked on the much smaller moon experienced a sense of weightlessness, as it had a smaller gravitational pull.

To help explain his theories of gravity and motion, Newton helped create a new, specialized form of mathematics. Originally known as “fluxions,” and now calculus, it charted the constantly changing and variable state of nature (like force and acceleration), in a way that existing algebra and geometry could not. Calculus may have been the bane of many a high school and college student, but it has proved invaluable to centuries of mathematicians, engineers and scientists.

Famous Mathematicians

Archimedes: The Mathematician Who Discovered Pi

Benjamin Banneker

22 Famous Scientists You Should Know

Charles Babbage

Blaise Pascal

Leonhard Euler

Ada Lovelace

Valerie Thomas

Mary Jackson

Biographies for Kids

Isaac newton.

• Occupation: Scientist, mathematician, and astronomer
• Born: January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England
• Best known for: Defining the three laws of motion and universal gravitation

• Gravity - Newton is probably most famous for discovering gravity. Outlined in the Principia, his theory about gravity helped to explain the movements of the planets and the Sun. This theory is known today as Newton's law of universal gravitation.
• Laws of Motion - Newton's laws of motion were three fundamental laws of physics that laid the foundation for classical mechanics.
• Calculus - Newton invented a whole new type of mathematics which he called "fluxions." Today we call this math calculus and it is an important type of math used in advanced engineering and science.
• Reflecting Telescope - In 1668 Newton invented the reflecting telescope . This type of telescope uses mirrors to reflect light and form an image. Nearly all of the major telescopes used in astronomy today are reflecting telescopes.
• He studied many classic philosophers and astronomers such as Aristotle, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Rene Descartes, and Galileo.
• Legend has it that Newton got his inspiration for gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree on his farm.
• He wrote his thoughts down in the Principia at the urging of his friend (and famous astronomer) Edmond Halley. Halley even paid for the book's publication.
• He once said of his own work "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

• Get Featured
• Our Patreon
• Biographies

Isaac Newton: Biography, Discoveries, Theory of Gravitation

Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most pivotal figures in the history of science. Isaac Newton’s biography emphasizes how a curious mind can greatly revolutionize our understanding of the natural world. His groundbreaking achievements in physics, mathematics, and astronomy add richness to his inspiring success story and establish his life as a symbol of exceptional human accomplishment.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Sir Isaac Newton, born on December 25, 1642, and deceased on March 20, 1727, was an English polymath whose works during the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment shaped future scientific thought. His landmark Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica , first published in 1687, laid down the laws of motion and universal gravitation, significantly advancing classical mechanics and supporting heliocentric theories.

Newton was also a co-developer of calculus, ahead of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. His 1704 publication, Opticks , dissected light and color, demonstrating how a prism divides white light into a color spectrum. Additionally, he invented the first practical reflecting telescope, established an empirical law of cooling, and theorized about the speed of sound and Newtonian fluids.

A fellow of Trinity College and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Newton was known for his unorthodox Christian views and rejected the Trinity doctrine, avoiding the usual clergy ordination. His political roles included two terms as a Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge and being knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. Newton also spent his later years as the Warden and then Master of the Royal Mint and served as president of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death.

Education at The King’s School

Newton attended The King’s School in Grantham from around twelve to seventeen. The school provided a solid grounding in Latin, Ancient Greek, and likely in mathematics. In October 1659, he temporarily left school to return to his family’s home in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth when his mother tried unsuccessfully to steer him towards farming. Newton loathed farming, and thankfully, Henry Stokes, the school’s master, convinced his mother to allow him to return to school. His academic performance improved significantly, driven partly by his desire to outdo a school bully. During this period, he also created various sundials and windmill models.

Academic Journey at Cambridge

In June 1661, Newton began his studies at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. His uncle, Reverend William Ayscough, a Cambridge alumnus, recommended him for admission. Starting as a subsizar—performing valet duties to help pay for his studies—Newton earned a scholarship in 1664 that allowed him to focus more fully on his education. Aristotle heavily influenced Cambridge’s curriculum, but Newton also engaged with the works of modern philosophers and scientists like Descartes, Galileo Galilei, and Thomas Street. During this time, he formulated the generalized binomial theorem and began working on what would eventually be recognized as calculus. The university closed in August 1665 due to the Great Plague, prompting Newton to continue his studies independently at home. This period was crucial as he developed foundational calculus, optics, and gravitation theories.

Return to Cambridge and Further Achievements

In April 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge and was elected a fellow of Trinity College in October. Typically, this position required ordination as an Anglican priest. However, during the Restoration years, a simple affirmation of adherence to the Church of England was accepted. Initially, Newton intended to focus on theology, but his unique religious views eventually clashed with Anglican orthodoxy. Fortunately, Isaac Barrow, a Lucasian professor at the time, recognized Newton’s potential, and by 1669, Newton succeeded him, circumventing the usual ordination requirement with the approval of King Charles II. This allowed Newton to avoid any religious conflicts and focus on his scientific pursuits. Due to his distinguished work, Newton was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672.

Mid-Life Contributions

Newton’s calculus.

Isaac Newton’s work in mathematics significantly advanced the field, particularly in calculus, a subject he referred to as fluxions. By October 1666, his foundational work in calculus was well-documented and later published among his mathematical papers. His treatise, De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas , sent to John Collins by Isaac Barrow in June 1669, was immediately recognized by Barrow as the work of an exceptional genius. This document laid the groundwork for Newton’s claim to calculus, which later led to a dispute with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over who developed calculus first. Although the two worked independently and used different mathematical notations, it is acknowledged that Newton developed his calculus concepts before Leibniz.

Newton’s calculus was integral to his major works, including the Principia , where he demonstrated calculus concepts under “the method of first and last ratios” and utilized methods involving infinitesimally small quantities. The Principia is often noted for being densely filled with theories and applications of infinitesimal calculus.

Despite his groundbreaking work, Newton initially hesitated to publish his calculus findings, fearing controversy and criticism. His relationship with Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, which began around 1691, aimed to produce a new version of Newton’s Principia . Their collaboration on the development of calculus came to an abrupt end in 1693, and as a result, the revised edition was never completed. The controversy over who was the original inventor of calculus escalated in 1711 when the Royal Society officially recognized Newton as the original inventor. The society further accused Leibniz of plagiarism in a report that Newton himself had concluded.

Aside from his extensive work in calculus, Newton made significant contributions to mathematics. He discovered Newton’s identities, classified cubic plane curves, and contributed to the theory of finite differences. Newton was also credited with developing the generalized binomial theorem that can be applied to any exponent. He was the first to use fractional indices and coordinate geometry to solve Diophantine equations. Newton’s work with power series and his methods for approximating the harmonic series with logarithms paved the way for further developments in mathematical analysis. Simon Stevin’s work on decimals sparked his interest in infinite series.

The Optical Discoveries

Sir Isaac Newton’s exploration into optics significantly advanced our understanding of light and color. His experiments in 1666 led him to conclude that color is an intrinsic property of light, discovered by observing how a prism refracts different colors at different angles. This insight was revolutionary, challenging the prevailing notion that objects themselves produced colors.

Between 1670 and 1672, Sir Isaac Newton delivered lectures on optics and performed experiments that showed how a prism could separate white light into a spectrum of colors, which could then be recombined into white light using a second prism and a lens. These experiments helped him develop his theory of color, which posits that colors arise from light’s interaction with objects rather than being produced by the objects themselves.

Newton also tackled the issue of chromatic aberration, where light disperses into colors, as seen in refracting telescopes. He designed the first functional reflecting telescope in late 1668 to solve this. Known today as the Newtonian telescope, this invention used mirrors instead of lenses to bypass the dispersion problem, providing clearer and larger images. His successful demonstration of this telescope to the Royal Society in 1671 spurred him to publish his findings in Opticks .

Newton’s ideas on light were not without controversy. He proposed that light was composed of particles or corpuscles and suggested that these particles were refracted by accelerating into denser media. Despite criticism from contemporaries like Robert Hooke, Newton’s particle theory of light remained influential until the wave theory of light gained prominence through the work of scientists like Young and Fresnel.

In his Opticks , published in 1704, Newton further explored his corpuscular theory, suggesting that light and ordinary matter were convertible and hinting at what would later be recognized as the photoelectric effect. He also innovated using prisms as beam expanders, a concept that would be vital in developing tunable lasers centuries later.

Newton’s interest in alchemy and the occult throughout his career influenced his scientific inquiries. He posited the existence of an ether to transmit forces between particles. He replaced it with occult forces of attraction and repulsion, paving the way for his later theory of gravity. Newton’s blend of scientific exploration and mystical pursuits underscored his role as a pioneering physicist and one of the last great alchemists.

Sir Isaac Newton began formulating his theories on gravitation as early as 1665. His interest in celestial mechanics intensified in 1679 after engaging with Robert Hooke, the then Secretary of the Royal Society. This period marked a reinvigorated correspondence with Hooke and others, which inspired further exploration into gravitational effects on planetary orbits. The sighting of a comet in the winter of 1680-1681, discussed with astronomer John Flamsteed, further fueled his investigations.

Newton’s groundbreaking work culminated in his writing De motu corporum in gyrum , a tract first entered into the Royal Society’s Register Book in December 1684. This document laid the groundwork for his most famous work, Principia , officially titled Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica . Published on July 5, 1687, with financial support from Edmond Halley, the Principia detailed the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. These principles advanced the Scientific Revolution and supported many technological advances during the Industrial Revolution, impacting various modern technologies that rely on classical mechanics.

In the Principia , Newton used the term gravitas to describe the force known today as gravity. He also introduced a calculus-like method for geometrical analysis, estimated the speed of sound in air, deduced the Earth’s shape as an oblate spheroid, and explained the precession of the equinoxes, among other significant scientific achievements. The complexity of applying his gravitational theories, particularly to lunar motions, notably impacted his health, leading to intense headaches and sleeplessness.

Newton also postulated that the Solar System did not revolve precisely around the center of the Sun but around the common center of gravity of all the planets, which he posited as either stationary or moving uniformly straight. This heliocentric view, refined by Newton in the mid-1680s, was revolutionary.

Critics initially attacked Newton’s theories, accusing him of reintroducing occult practices into science by suggesting forces acting over a distance. However, Newton addressed these criticisms in the second edition of the Principia (1713), famously stating “Hypotheses non fingo” (“I frame no hypotheses”), arguing that his theories were based solely on observable phenomena without speculating on their causality.

The publication of the Principia established Newton as a leading figure in international science, drawing a circle of admirers and furthering his influence in mathematics and physics. By 1710, he had categorized 72 of the 78 known “species” of cubic curves and outlined their properties, which mathematicians like James Stirling later expanded upon. Newton’s profound contributions to science continued to resonate, shaping the frameworks of classical physics and beyond.

Later Life of Sir Isaac Newton

Appointment to the royal mint.

In the later years of his life, Sir Isaac Newton, who by then had become an influential figure beyond academia, delved into various activities ranging from theological scholarship to managing the Royal Mint. His religious writings in the 1690s, which explored the literal and symbolic interpretations of the Bible, included a critique of the biblical text of 1 John 5:7, questioning its authenticity. However, this particular manuscript was not published until 1785.

Newton’s public service also included two brief terms as a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University in 1689 and 1701. Despite his prestigious position, he famously spoke up just once to complain about a cold draft in the chamber, requesting the window to be closed. Newton was also noted for reprimanding students who were involved in scaring locals with tales of a haunted house.

In 1696, Newton moved to London after being appointed warden of the Royal Mint during King William III’s reign, a role he obtained through Charles Montagu, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer. This position initially considered a sinecure, was taken seriously by Newton, who involved himself deeply in the Great Recoinage. He became Master of the Mint following the death of Thomas Neale in 1699, a position he held diligently until his death. He retired from his academic duties at Cambridge in 1701 to focus on reforming the currency and cracking down on the rampant counterfeiting of the time.

As the Royal Mint’s warden, and later as its master, Newton estimated that 20 percent of the coins during the recoinage were counterfeit. Newton actively participated in the pursuit of counterfeiters, often disguising himself to gather evidence in bars and taverns. He was appointed a justice of the peace in several home counties, which empowered him to conduct over 100 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects from June 1698 to December 1699, leading to the successful prosecution of 28 counterfeiters.

Newton was elected president of the Royal Society in 1703 and became a French Académie des Sciences associate. During his tenure at the Royal Society, he clashed with John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed’s Historia Coelestis Britannica, which he had used for his studies. This act created a rift between Newton and Flamsteed, marking one of the few contentious episodes in an otherwise celebrated career.

Newton’s Knighthood

In April 1705, Queen Anne knighted Sir Isaac Newton during her royal visit to Trinity College, Cambridge. In the context of the upcoming parliamentary election in May 1705, this honor was likely influenced more by political factors than by Newton’s scientific achievements or his role as Master of the Mint. Following Sir Francis Bacon, he was the second scientist to receive this honor.

Newton’s tenure at the Mint led to significant changes in British monetary policy. On September 21, 1717, he wrote a report to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury that prompted a royal proclamation on December 22, 1717. This proclamation altered the bimetallic relationship between gold and silver coins, setting the value of gold guineas at no more than 21 silver shillings. This adjustment inadvertently led to a silver shortage, as silver coins were heavily used for imports while exports were paid for in gold, pushing Britain towards its first gold standard. The intention behind Newton’s adjustments to the currency system has been debated, with some suggesting that his actions at the Mint were an extension of his alchemical pursuits.

Newton's successful tenure at the Mint made him very wealthy. However, he experienced a significant financial loss during the South Sea Bubble, reported by his niece to be around £20,000 — a substantial amount equivalent to about £3,42 million in 2024. Despite this setback, Newton remained at the Mint until his death in 1727, demonstrating his dedication to public service and financial administration beyond his scientific contributions.

Newton resided at Cranbury Park, near Winchester, in his final years with his niece and her husband. He also maintained a residence on Jermyn Street in London, where his half-niece, Catherine Barton, managed his social engagements. Newton referred to Catherine affectionately as his “very loving Uncle” in his correspondence, especially during her recovery from smallpox. Newton’s close relationships with his family highlighted a personal side to the renowned scientist, contrasting with his public persona as a revolutionary figure in science and finance.

Sir Isaac Newton died in his sleep in London on March 20, 1727 (Old Style: March 20, 1726; New Style: March 31, 1727). He received a ceremonial funeral attended by nobles, scientists, and philosophers, which marked him as the first scientist to be laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, a place usually reserved for royalty.

There is speculation that the philosopher Voltaire may have attended Newton’s funeral, a testament to the wide-reaching influence and respect Newton commanded across intellectual circles. Newton, who remained unmarried throughout his life, had arranged his affairs before his death, distributing much of his estate among his relatives and dying intestate without a will. His extensive papers were left to John Conduitt and Catherine Barton.

After his death, a plaster death mask was made, preserving Newton’s visage for posterity. This mask served as a model for a sculpture by Flemish artist John Michael Rysbrack. The Royal Society now preserves this mask, which the society’s commission scanned in 3D in 2012.

Interestingly, an analysis of Newton’s hair after his death revealed significant levels of mercury. This could have resulted from his alchemical experiments and provided some context for his erratic behavior in his later years.

Personality

Sir Isaac Newton is known for his immense contributions to science, but his personal life was marked by a lack of romantic relationships. According to the French philosopher Voltaire, who attended Newton’s funeral, the scientist never experienced strong passions, did not indulge in common vices, and had little interaction with women. Medical professionals who attended to Newton in his final days corroborate this view. It is widely believed that Newton may have died a virgin, as noted by mathematician Charles Hutton, economist John Maynard Keynes, and physicist Carl Sagan. 

Newton formed a close friendship with Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, which ended abruptly in 1693, the same year Newton had a nervous breakdown. He sent erratic and accusatory letters to his friends, including Samuel Pepys and John Locke. In one particularly distressing letter to Locke, Newton accused him of trying to involve him with women and other matters, hinting at the depth of his crisis. Despite his towering intellectual achievements, Newton was known for his humility. In a famous correspondence with Robert Hooke in 1676, Newton wrote:

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Sir Isaac Newton

This statement is often cited as a display of modesty, but some interpret it as a veiled dig at Hooke, with whom Newton had a dispute over optical discoveries. However, the phrase predates Newton and was included in George Herbert’s Jacula Prudentum, published in 1651. It is generally seen as a recognition that his work was built upon the foundation laid by his predecessors. Newton once reflected on his sense of wonder and discovery, comparing himself to a boy playing on the seashore.

He was fascinated by finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell while the vast ocean of truth lay undiscovered before him. This metaphor captures Newton’s perpetual quest for knowledge and his humble view of his place within the broader scope of scientific exploration.

Religious Views

Sir Isaac Newton developed religious beliefs that sharply deviated from mainstream Christianity by his thirties. Considered heretical by some, his views especially contested the traditional doctrines of the Trinity. Newton was sympathetic to Arius in the historical conflict between Athanasius and Arius, seeing Christ as divine but subordinate to God the Father, which positioned him as an anti-trinitarian.

Newton’s profound religious studies remained largely private during his lifetime, only becoming publicly available in 1972. These writings revealed his detailed understanding of early Church texts and his critical perspectives on the Trinity. Despite the potential controversies, Newton managed to avoid open conflict over his unorthodox beliefs by keeping them private. He was particularly critical of the worship of Christ as God, which he viewed as idolatry.

In his scientific work, particularly in Principia , Newton integrated his belief in a divinely ordered universe, stating that while gravity could explain planetary motion, divine power was necessary to maintain the universe’s order. He viewed the universe as rationally designed and understandable through science but occasionally requiring divine intervention to manage instabilities, a concept criticized by his contemporary Leibniz.

Newton also produced significant works on biblical text criticism and prophecies, grounding his theological inquiry in rigorous scholarly methods. His blending of scientific inquiry with theological thought helped shape the rationalist approach of the Enlightenment, promoting a worldview that sought to harmonize religious belief with empirical scientific evidence.

Scientist and Alchemist

Isaac Newton is often celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to physics and mathematics. However, John Maynard Keynes famously described him as “the last of the magicians,” highlighting Newton’s deep engagement with alchemy, a practice that combined elements of mysticism with the roots of modern chemistry.

Newton’s alchemical studies, which he largely kept private, constituted nearly one million of the estimated ten million words he wrote. These writings, often veiled in secrecy due to their sometimes heretical content, reflected his lifelong quest to understand the natural world’s hidden forces.

In 1936, Newton’s alchemical papers were auctioned at Sotheby’s, fetching about £9,000. John Maynard Keynes acquired a significant portion of these documents and later donated them to Cambridge University in 1946. These writings are now part of a project by Indiana University called “ The Chymistry of Isaac Newton ,” making them accessible online.

Newton’s interest in alchemy also influenced his other studies. For example, during the Great Plague of London, he explored plague remedies in his notes on Jan Baptist van Helmont’s work, describing an unusual cure involving a toad that absorbed the disease.

Through these alchemical pursuits, Newton’s legacy extends beyond his visible scientific achievements, showcasing a blend of rational inquiry and mystical exploration that characterized much of early modern science.

Devoted Fame

Sir Isaac Newton, one of history’s preeminent scientists, is commemorated for revolutionizing our understanding of physics through his laws of motion and universal gravitation. His epitaph at Westminster Abbey eloquently captures his achievements:

“Here lies Isaac Newton, Knight, who with nearly divine strength of mind, first demonstrated the motion and shape of planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, and properties of light and color, which no one before had even imagined. Faithful in his interpretations of nature, antiquity, and the Holy Scriptures, he asserted the majesty of God and reflected the simplicity of the Gospel in his conduct.”

Although Alexander Pope proposed a grander epitaph, it was not used. Instead, he famously wrote:

“Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”

Newton’s influence remains profound. In a 2005 Royal Society survey, he was voted to have made a greater impact on science than Albert Einstein . In 1999, physicists also ranked him as the “greatest physicist ever.” His scientific contributions are further immortalized by naming the SI unit of force Newton.

Newton’s birthplace, Woolsthorpe Manor, is preserved as a Grade I listed building. It is significant for being the site where he developed his theories on gravity and light.

In an intriguing footnote to his legacy, one of Newton’s teeth, set into a ring, was sold in 1816 for £730, earning a Guinness World Record as the most valuable tooth ever sold, valued at approximately £25,000 in 2001. The current location of this tooth remains unknown, adding a layer of mystique to Newton’s enduring legacy.

Apple Tree and Theory of Gravitation

Isaac Newton is often associated with the anecdote of an apple falling from a tree, which supposedly inspired his thoughts on gravity. While the popular story suggests that the apple fell on his head, more accurate accounts confirm it simply fell to the ground while he observed. This incident is famously noted in a conversation recorded by William Stukeley in 1726, where Newton recounted his reflections on why the apple fell straight down rather than moving sideways or upwards, leading him to ponder a force that must act towards the Earth's center.

Newton shared these thoughts with Stukeley under the apple trees at his residence in Kensington, illustrating his early curiosity about the forces of nature. John Conduitt, Newton’s assistant at the Royal Mint and his niece’s husband, also wrote about a similar reflection by Newton in 1666 while walking in a garden, which further led Newton to think about the gravitational pull extending as far as the moon.

This idea took Newton two decades to develop fully, culminating in his theory of universal gravitation, which posited that gravity was a force that acted in proportion to mass and decreased with the square of the distance between objects.

Multiple parties claim ownership of the original apple tree that inspired Newton’s revelations. The King’s School, Grantham, asserts that it acquired the tree, while staff at Woolsthorpe Manor, now managed by the National Trust, claim it still stands in its original location. Furthermore, a descendant of the supposed original tree grows outside Trinity College, Cambridge, near Newton’s former quarters.

Whether mythologized or not, this apple tree story underscores Newton’s groundbreaking approach to understanding the universe. It blended observable natural phenomena with profound theoretical insights that have influenced science ever since.

Sir Isaac Newton is honored with numerous memorials across the UK. His elaborate monument, created in 1731 by sculptor Michael Rysbrack and architect William Kent, is located in Westminster Abbey. It depicts Newton reclining on a sarcophagus, surrounded by symbols of his work, including a celestial globe and mathematical instruments.

Newton also appeared on the Series D £1 banknotes issued by the Bank of England from 1978 to 1988, depicted with a book and scientific instruments. This marks him as the last historical figure to be featured on the £1 note.

Statues of Newton can be found at significant locations, including the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the British Library in London, where a large bronze statue by Eduardo Paolozzi, inspired by William Blake’s etching, stands prominently. Another statue stands in Grantham, where Newton attended school, highlighting his legacy in his hometown.

Additionally, Newton’s birthplace, the farmhouse at Woolsthorpe By Colsterworth, is preserved as a Grade I listed building, recognized for its historical significance as the site of Newton’s early discoveries in physics and optics. These various tributes underscore Newton’s enduring impact on science and culture.

These works collectively showcase Newton’s monumental contributions to science, mathematics, and theology, illustrating the breadth and depth of his intellect and interests.

Published in his lifetime:

• De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas (Written in 1669, published in 1711)
• Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation (unpublished, circa 1671–75)
• De motu corporum in gyrum (1684)
• Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
• Scala graduum Caloris. Calorum Descriptiones & signa (1701)
• Opticks (1704)
• Reports as Master of the Mint (1701–1725)
• Arithmetica Universalis (1707)

Published posthumously:

• De mundi systemate (The System of the World) (1728)
• Optical Lectures (1728)
• The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728)
• Observations on Daniel and The Apocalypse of St. John (1733)
• Method of Fluxions (Written in 1671, published in 1736)
• An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1754)

Isaac Newton’s biography concludes with his death on March 20, 1727, leaving behind a legacy that continues to shape modern science. His life story, characterized by relentless curiosity and dedication to uncovering the universe’s secrets, remains a source of inspiration. Newton’s life demonstrates how one individual’s pursuit of knowledge can have a profound and lasting impact on the world.

Similar Posts:

• Michael Taylor: Luminescence Photos
• Albert Einstein Biography: Success Story of Physicist and Scientist
• Tatiana Plakhova Illustrations: Breathtaking Complexity Graphics
• Hans Zimmer: Biography, Success Story, Film Score Composer
• How to Be Happy: Scientific Insights

Related posts

Elton john: biography, success story, british musician, zhang yiming: biography, success story, tiktok, britney spears: biography, success story, pop icon, gina rinehart: biography, success story, mining magnate.