Astronomy: Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1643 and was an above-average student. One summer in 1665, he went home from Cambridge, thought a lot about the physical nature of the world and came back two years later with a revolutionary understanding of mathematics, gravitation, and optics. A professor of his, understanding what Newton had done, resigned his own position at Cambridge so Newton could have it. Newton's calculus provided a new mathematical framework for the rapid solution of whole classes of physical problems. Newton's law of gravitation explained in one simple formula how apples fall and planets move. Newton's insights proved to be so overwhelmingly powerful he was the first scientist ever knighted. Related subject >> The Isaac Newton telescope at Roque De Los Muchachos Observatory

Isaac Newton