| Sir Isaac Newton was not only one of the best | | | | constant speed, that is, if its acceleration is zero, |
| physicists ever lived but he was also one of those | | | | then there is zero net force acting on it. |
| scientists that contributed a lot to mathematics. | | | | Law 3: To every action there is an equal and |
| He made most of his mathematical contributions | | | | opposite reaction. If A is pushing B with a force |
| while he was first a student then a professor at | | | | of F, B is also pushing A in the opposite direction |
| Trinity College, Cambridge between the years | | | | with a force of F. Sun attracts the Earth, and |
| 1661 and 1696. Our world would not be the same | | | | Earth attracts the Sun with the same force! |
| today without the important discoveries of the | | | | During 1668 and 1669, Newton worked on optics |
| son of this yeoman farmer. | | | | at the Cambridge University. |
| The years 1665-66 were one of the worst for | | | | 1669 is another important year in Newton's life |
| England when the Bubonic Plague devastated all | | | | since that's when Prof. Isaac Barrow resigned |
| big cities. 1665 is also the year when Newton got | | | | from the famous "Lucasian Chair" at Cambridge |
| his B.A. When the school was shut down to fight | | | | and offered it to Newton as its second occupant. |
| the plague, Newton retreated to the family farm | | | | Having the security of a good tenured position, |
| at Woolsthorpe. During those two years that he | | | | Newton pressed on with his studies into the |
| spent in seclusion doing nothing but devoting all his | | | | nature of light and optics with a renewed vigor. |
| time to physics and mathematics, Newton | | | | Here is a summary of Newton's various |
| discovered the law of gravity and made | | | | contributions to the science of optics, some of |
| important advances in mathematics. | | | | which later on culminated in his 1704 book also |
| Here is a list of the 23 year old Newton's | | | | titled "Optics." |
| achievements during those two crucial years: | | | | Newton developed instruments to grind lenses into |
| He discovered the law of universal gravitation, | | | | shapes other than spheres. He is the first in |
| invented calculus (at the same time as but | | | | human history to discover that, when passed |
| independently of Leibnitz in Germany), further | | | | through a prism, the sun light is split into a bundle |
| developed the binomial theorem, and started his | | | | of different colored rays. On the basis of that |
| life-long studies in optics and the theory of colors. | | | | observation he developed the first successful |
| There, during his two year stay at the farm, | | | | explanation of rainbows. |
| Newton discovered and proven that the same | | | | The great physicist has also discovered the |
| force that pulls a rock towards the earth (i.e., | | | | telescope that is still known today by his name; |
| gravity) is one and the same force that pulls the | | | | invented a reflecting microscope in 1672, as well |
| moon towards the earth and keeps it in orbit. He | | | | as a sextant which was independently discovered |
| later on developed this into a "Principle of Universal | | | | in 1731 by J. Hadley. |
| Gravitation" which said any two objects in the | | | | However, for all his daring discoveries in optics |
| universe attracted one another in direct ratio to | | | | and the theory of colors, Newton was attacked |
| the product of their masses, and in inverse ratio | | | | vehemently during the 1670s. Sometimes it takes |
| to the square of the distance between them. | | | | minds lesser than a genius a little lag time to catch |
| Newton is best known for his 3 Laws of Motion: | | | | up with the greatest discoveries of human history. |
| Law 1 (Law of Inertia): If an object is at rest and | | | | Even if Newton had died in his mid-twenties his |
| there is no net force acting on it, it will remain at | | | | place in the world of mathematics and science |
| rest. If it is moving at a constant speed and no | | | | would've been secure enough. But he lived about |
| net force is acting on it, it will continue to move | | | | 60 more years and pushed the frontiers of |
| at that constant speed. | | | | human reason and science even further - thanks |
| Law 2: F = ma, or: the net force acting on an | | | | to his extraordinary gifts as physicist and a |
| object is its mass multiplied by the acceleration of | | | | mathematician. |
| the object. Thus if an object is moving at a | | | | |