Isaac Newton

Synopsis
Born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England, Isaac Newton was an established physicist
and mathematician, and is credited as one of the great minds of the 17th century Scientific
Revolution. With discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics, Newton developed the
principles of modern physics. In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which has
been called the single most influential book on physics. Newton died in London on March 31,
1727.

Early Life
On January 4, 1643, Isaac Newton was born in the hamlet of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
(using the "old" Julien calendar, Newton's birth date is sometimes displayed as December 25,
1642). He was the only son of a prosperous local farmer, also named Isaac Newton, who died
three months before he was born. A premature baby born tiny and weak, Newton was not
expected to survive. When he was 3 years old, his mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, remarried
a well-to-do minister, Barnabas Smith, and went to live with him, leaving young Newton with
his maternal grandmother. The experience left an indelible imprint on Newton, later manifesting
itself as an acute sense of insecurity. He anxiously obsessed over his published work, defending
its merits with irrational behavior.
At age 12, Newton was reunited with his mother after her second husband died. She brought
along her three small children from her second marriage. Newton had been enrolled at the King's
School in Grantham, a town in Lincolnshire, where he lodged with a local apothecary and was
introduced to the fascinating world of chemistry. His mother pulled him out of school, for her
plan was to make him a farmer and have him tend the farm. Newton failed miserably, as he
found farming monotonous.
He soon was sent back to King's School to finish his basic education. Perhaps sensing the young
man's innate intellectual abilities, his uncle, a graduate of the University of Cambridge's Trinity
College, persuaded Newton's mother to have him enter the university. Newton enrolled in a
program similar to a work-study in 1661, and subsequently waited on tables and took care of
wealthier students' rooms.
When Newton arrived at Cambridge, the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century was already in
full force. The heliocentric view of the universetheorized by astronomers Nicolaus Copernicus
and Johannes Kepler, and later refined by Galileowas well known in most European academic
circles. Philosopher Ren Descartes had begun to formulate a new concept of nature as an
intricate, impersonal and inert machine. Yet, like most universities in Europe, Cambridge was
steeped in Aristotelian philosophy and a view of nature resting on a geocentric view of the
universe, dealing with nature in qualitative rather than quantitative terms.
During his first three years at Cambridge, Newton was taught the standard curriculum but was
fascinated with the more advanced science. All his spare time was spent reading from the modern
philosophers. The result was a less-than-stellar performance, but one that is understandable,
given his dual course of study. It was during this time that Newton kept a second set of notes,
entitled "Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae" ("Certain Philosophical Questions"). The
"Quaestiones" reveal that Newton had discovered the new concept of nature that provided the
framework for the Scientific Revolution.

Though Newton graduated with no honors or distinctions, his efforts won him the title of scholar
and four years of financial support for future education. Unfortunately, in 1665, the Great Plague
that was ravaging Europe had come to Cambridge, forcing the university to close. Newton
returned home to pursue his private study. It was during this 18-month hiatus that he conceived
the method of infinitesimal calculus, set foundations for his theory of light and color, and gained
significant insight into the laws of planetary motioninsights that eventually led to the
publication of his Principia in 1687. Legend has it that, at this time, Newton experienced his
famous inspiration of gravity with the falling apple.
When the threat of plague subsided in 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge and was elected a
minor fellow at Trinity College, as he was still not considered a standout scholar. However, in the
ensuing years, his fortune improved. Newton received his Master of Arts degree in 1669, before
he was 27. During this time, he came across Nicholas Mercator's published book on methods for
dealing with infinite series. Newton quickly wrote a treatise, De Analysi, expounding his own
wider-ranging results. He shared this with friend and mentor Isaac Barrow, but didn't include his
name as author.
In June 1669, Barrow shared the unaccredited manuscript with British mathematician John
Collins. In August 1669, Barrow identified its author to Collins as "Mr. Newton ... very young ...
but of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things." Newton's work was brought to
the attention of the mathematics community for the first time. Shortly afterward, Barrow
resigned his Lucasian professorship at Cambridge, and Newton assumed the chair.

Professional Life

As a professor, Newton was exempted from tutoring but required to deliver an

annual course of lectures. He chose to deliver his work on optics as his initial
topic. Part of Newton's study of optics was aided with the use of a reflecting
telescope that he designed and constructed in 1668his first major public
scientific achievement. This invention helped prove his theory of light and
color. The Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope
in 1671, and the organization's interest encouraged Newton to publish his
notes on light, optics and color in 1672; these notes were later published as
part of Newton's Opticks: Or, A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions,
Inflections and Colours of Light.
However, not everyone at the Royal Academy was enthusiastic about
Newton's discoveries in optics. Among the dissenters was Robert Hooke, one
of the original members of the Royal Academy and a scientist who was
accomplished in a number of areas, including mechanics and optics. In his
paper, Newton theorized that white light was a composite of all colors of the
spectrum, and that light was composed of particles. Hooke believed that light
was composed of waves. Hooke quickly condemned Newton's paper in
condescending terms, and attacked Newton's methodology and conclusions.

Hooke was not the only one to question Newton's work in optics. Renowned
Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens and a number of French Jesuits also
raised objections. But because of Hooke's association with the Royal Society
and his own work in optics, his criticism stung Newton the worst. Unable to
handle the critique, he went into a ragea reaction to criticism that was to
continue throughout his life.
Newton denied Hooke's charge that his theories had any shortcomings, and
argued the importance of his discoveries to all of science. In the ensuing
months, the exchange between the two men grew more acrimonious, and
soon Newton threatened to quit the society altogether. He remained only
when several other members assured him that the Fellows held him in high
esteem.
However, the rivalry between Newton and Hooke would continue for several
years thereafter. Then, in 1678, Newton suffered a complete nervous
breakdown and the correspondence abruptly ended. The death of his mother
the following year caused him to become even more isolated, and for six
years he withdrew from intellectual exchange except when others initiated
correspondence, which he always kept short.
During his hiatus from public life, Newton returned to his study of gravitation
and its effects on the orbits of planets. Ironically, the impetus that put Newton
on the right direction in this study came from Robert Hooke. In a 1679 letter of
general correspondence to Royal Society members for contributions, Hooke
wrote to Newton and brought up the question of planetary motion, suggesting
that a formula involving the inverse squares might explain the attraction
between planets and the shape of their orbits.
Subsequent exchanges transpired before Newton quickly broke off the
correspondence once again. But Hooke's idea was soon incorporated into
Newton's work on planetary motion, and from his notes it appears he had
quickly drawn his own conclusions by 1680, though he kept his discoveries to
himself.
In early 1684, in a conversation with fellow Royal Society members
Christopher Wren and Edmond Halley, Hooke made his case on the proof for
planetary motion. Both Wren and Halley thought he was on to something, but
pointed out that a mathematical demonstration was needed. In August 1684,
Halley traveled to Cambridge to visit with Newton, who was coming out of his

seclusion. Halley idly asked him what shape the orbit of a planet would take if
its attraction to the sun followed the inverse square of the distance between
them (Hooke's theory).
Newton knew the answer, due to his concentrated work for the past six years,
and replied, "An ellipse." Newton claimed to have solved the problem some 18
years prior, during his hiatus from Cambridge and the plague, but he was
unable to find his notes. Halley persuaded him to work out the problem
mathematically and offered to pay all costs so that the ideas might be
published.