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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Head and shoulders portrait of man in black with shoulder-length grey hair, a large sharp nose, and an abstracted gaze
Godfrey Kneller's 1689 portrait of Isaac Newton
(age 46)
Born 25 December 1642(1642-12-25)
[NS: 4 January 1643][1]
Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth
Lincolnshire, England
Died 20 March 1727(1727-03-20) (aged 84)
[NS: 31 March 1727][1]
Kensington, Middlesex, England
Residence England
Nationality English
Fields Physics, mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy, alchemy, Christian theology
Institutions University of Cambridge
Royal Society
Royal Mint
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge
Academic advisors Isaac Barrow[2]
Benjamin Pulleyn[3][4]
Notable students Roger Cotes
William Whiston
Known for Newtonian mechanics
Universal gravitation
Infinitesimal calculus
Optics
Binomial series
Newton's method
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Influences Henry More[5]
Polish Brethren[6]
Influenced Nicolas Fatio de Duillier
John Keill
Signature
Is. Newton
Notes
His mother was Hannah Ayscough. His half-niece was Catherine Barton.



Sir Isaac Newton PRS (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727 [NS: 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727])[1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."[7]
His monograph Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, lays the foundations for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws, by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the Scientific Revolution. The Principia is generally considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope[8] and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours that form the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.
In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of differential and integral calculus. He also demonstrated the generalised binomial theorem, developed Newton's method for approximating the roots of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.
Newton was also highly religious. He was an unorthodox Christian, and wrote more on Biblical hermeneutics and occult studies than on science and mathematics, the subjects he is mainly associated with. Newton secretly rejected Trinitarianism, fearing to be accused of refusing holy orders.

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