Revision as of 14:35, 2 May 2007 view sourceXavier james (talk | contribs)11 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit |
Revision as of 14:36, 2 May 2007 view source Xavier james (talk | contribs)11 edits ←Blanked the pageNext edit → |
Line 1: |
Line 1: |
|
{{sprotect2}} |
|
|
{{featured article}} |
|
|
{{Infobox_Scientist |
|
|
|name = Sir Isaac Newton |
|
|
|image = GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg |
|
|
|image_width = 250px |
|
|
|caption = Sir Isaac Newton at 46 in ]'s 1689 portrait |
|
|
|birth_date = ] ] <small><nowiki>]: ] ]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS">During Newton's lifetime, two calendars were in use in Europe: the ] or 'Old Style' in Britain and parts of Eastern Europe, and the ] or 'New Style' elsewhere. At Newton's birth, Gregorian dates were ten days ahead of Julian dates: thus Newton was born on Christmas Day 1642 by the Julian calendar but on 4 January 1643 by the Gregorian. Moreover, the English new year began on 25 March (the anniversary of the Incarnation) and not on 1 January (until the general adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the UK in 1753). Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of the dates in this article follow the Julian calendar.</ref></small> |
|
|
|birth_place = ], ], ] |
|
|
|residence = ] ] |
|
|
|nationality = ] ] |
|
|
|death_date = ] ] <small><nowiki>]: ] ]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS"/></small> |
|
|
|death_place = ], ], England |
|
|
|field = ] ], ], ], and ] |
|
|
|work_institution = ], ] |
|
|
|alma_mater = ] |
|
|
|known_for = ]</br>]</br>]</br>] |
|
|
|prizes = |
|
|
|religion = |
|
|
|footnotes = |
|
|
}} |
|
|
|
|
|
'''Sir Isaac Newton''', (] ] – ] ]) <small><nowiki>]: ] ] – ] ]<nowiki>]</nowiki></small><ref name="OSNS"/> was an ] ] ], ], ], and ], regarded by many as the greatest figure in the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Newton beats Einstein in polls of scientists and the public |work=The Royal Society |url=http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news.asp?id=3880 |accessdate=2006-10-25}}</ref> His treatise '']'', published in ], described ] and the three ], laying the groundwork for ]. By demonstrating consistency between ] and this system, he was the first to show that the motion of objects on Earth and of ] bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. The unifying and predictive power of his laws was central to the ], the advancement of ], and the broader acceptance of the notion that rational investigation can reveal the inner workings of nature. |
|
|
|
|
|
In mechanics, Newton also markedly enunciated the principles of ] and ]. In ], he invented the ] and developed a theory of ] based on the observation that a ] decomposes ] ] into a ]. Newton notably argued that ]. He also formulated an empirical ], studied the ], and proposed a theory of the origin of ]s. In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with ] for the ] of ]. He also demonstrated the ], developed the so-called "]" for approximating the zeroes of a ], and contributed to the study of ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
==Biography== |
|
|
{{IsaacNewtonSegments|left}} |
|
|
===Early years=== |
|
|
{{Main|Isaac Newton's early life and achievements}} |
|
|
|
|
|
]. Portrait by ].]] According to the modern calendar, Isaac Newton was born on January 4<sup>th</sup> ] at ] in ], a ] in the county of ]. At the time of Newton's birth, England had not adopted the latest papal calendar and therefore his date of birth was recorded as ] ]. Newton was born three months after his father, also called Isaac, died. Born ], he was a small child; his mother ] reportedly said that he could have fit inside a ] mug. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabus Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery Ayscough. The young Isaac disliked his step-father and held some enmity towards his mother for marrying him, as revealed by this entry to the list of sins<!--what exactly is this?--> committed up to the age of 19: |
|
|
:''Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them''<ref>Cohen, I.B. (1970). Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 11, p.43. New york: Charles Scribner's Sons</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
According to ] and H. Eves: |
|
|
|
|
|
:Newton began his schooling in the village schools and was later sent to ], where he became the top student in the school. At King's, he lodged with the local ], ] and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storey, before he went off to ] at the age of 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storey married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded "sweet-hearts" and never married.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=E.T. |origyear=1937 |year=1986 |title=Men of Mathematics |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |edition=Touchstone edition |pages=pp. 91-2}}</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
However, Bell and Eves' sources for this claim, William Stukeley and Mrs. Vincent (the former Miss Storey - actually named Katherine, not Anne), merely say that Newton entertained "a passion" for Storey while he lodged at the Clarke house. |
|
|
From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King's School, Grantham (where his signature can still be seen upon a library window sill). He was removed from school, and by October 1659, he was to be found at ], where his mother, widowed by now for a second time, attempted to make a farmer of him. He was, by later reports of his contemporaries, thoroughly unhappy with the work. It appears to have been Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, who persuaded his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. This he did at the age of eighteen, achieving an admirable final report. |
|
|
|
|
|
In June 1661, he was admitted to ]. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of ], but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as ] and ] such as ], ] and ]. In 1665, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his degree in 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the ]. For the next 18 months Newton worked at home on ], ] and the ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
===Middle years=== |
|
|
{{Main|Isaac Newton's middle years}} |
|
|
] |
|
|
====Mathematics==== |
|
|
|
|
|
Most modern historians believe that Newton and Leibniz developed calculus independently, using their own unique notations. According to Newton's inner circle, Newton had worked out his method years before Leibniz, yet he published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a full account until 1704. Meanwhile, Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684. Moreover, Leibniz's notation and "differential Method" were universally adopted on the Continent, and after 1820 or so, in the British Empire. Whereas Leibniz's notebooks show the advancement of the ideas from early stages until maturity, there is only the end product in Newton's known notes. Newton claimed that he had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared being mocked for it. Starting in 1699, other members of the ] (of which Newton was a member) accused Leibniz of plagiarism, and the dispute broke out in full force in 1711. Newton's Royal Society proclaimed in a study that it was Newton who was the true discoverer and labeled Leibniz a fraud. This study was cast into doubt when it was later found that Newton himself wrote the study's concluding remarks on Leibniz. Thus began the bitter ], which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716. This dispute created a |
|
|
|
|
|
He was elected ] in 1669. In that day, any fellow of Cambridge or ] had to be an ordained Anglican priest. However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder ''not'' be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and ], whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted. |
|
|
|
|
|
====Optics==== |
|
|
From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the ] of light, demonstrating that a ] could decompose ] into a ] of colours, and that a ] and a second prism could recompose the multicoloured spectrum into white light. |
|
|
].]] |
|
|
He also showed that the coloured light does not change its properties, by separating out a coloured beam and shining it on various objects. Newton noted that regardless of whether it was reflected or scattered or transmitted, it stayed the same colour. Thus the colours we observe are the result of how objects interact with the incident ''already-coloured'' light, '''not''' the result of objects ''generating'' the colour. For more details, see ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
From this work he concluded that any refracting ] would suffer from the ] of light into colours, and invented a reflecting telescope (today known as a ]) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors, using ] to judge the ] of the optics for his telescopes, he was able to produce a superior instrument to the refracting telescope, due primarily to the wider diameter of the mirror. In 1671 the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. Their interest encouraged him to publish his notes ''On Colour'', which he later expanded into his ''Opticks''. When ] criticised some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. The two men remained enemies until Hooke's death. |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton argued that light is composed of particles, but he had to associate them with ]s to explain the ] of light (''Opticks'' Bk. II, Props. XII-L). Later physicists instead favoured a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for on alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."<ref>{{cite book |last=Keynes |first=John Maynard |year=1972 |chapter="Newton, The Man" |title=The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes Volume X |publiser=MacMillan St. Martin's Press |pages=pp. 363-4}}</ref> Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science.<ref>{{cite book |last=Westfall |first=Richard S. |origyear=1980 |year=1983 |title="Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=pp. 530-1}} notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches.</ref> (This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science.) Had he not relied on the ] idea of ], across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity. (See also ].) |
|
|
|
|
|
In 1704 Newton wrote '']'', in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. He considered light to be made up of extremely subtle corpuscles, that ordinary matter was made of grosser corpuscles and speculated that through a kind of alchemical transmutation "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another,...and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dobbs |first=J.T. |year=1982 |month=December |title=Newton's Alchemy and His Theory of Matter |journal=Isis |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=p. 523}} quoting ''Opticks''</ref> Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional ], using a ] globe (Optics, 8th Query). |
|
|
|
|
|
====Mechanics and gravitation==== |
|
|
] |
|
|
{{further|]}} |
|
|
|
|
|
In 1679, Newton returned to his work on mechanics, i.e., gravitation and its effect on the orbits of ]s, with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and consulting with Hooke and ] on the subject. He published his results in ''De Motu Corporum'' (1684). This contained the beginnings of the laws of motion that would inform the ''Principia''. |
|
|
|
|
|
The '']'' (now known as the ''Principia'') was published on ], ] with encouragement and financial help from ]. In this work Newton stated the ] that were not to be improved upon for more than two hundred years. He used the Latin word ''gravitas'' in 1712. Portrait by ].]] |
|
|
|
|
|
In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of ] dealing with the literal interpretation of the ]. Henry More's belief in the universe and rejection of ] may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to ] in which he disputed the existence of the ] was never published. Later works — ''The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended'' (1728) and ''Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John'' (1733) — were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above).<!--old cite was (Westfall 1980, pp. 530-1) "notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches"--> |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton was also a member of the ] from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but his only recorded comments were to complain about a cold draft in the chamber and request that the window be closed. |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton moved to ] to take up the post of warden of the ] in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of ], then ]. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and securing the job of deputy ] of the temporary Chester at the Mint, rather than his earlier contributions to science, that earned him a ] from Queen Anne in 1705. |
|
|
] |
|
|
Newton was made President of the ] in 1703 and an associate of the French ]. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the ], by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's star catalogue, which Newton had used in his studies. |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton died in London on March 20 (Old Style), 1727 (]), and was buried in ]. His half-niece, ],<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 44.</ref> served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on ] in London; he was her "very loving Uncle",<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 595</ref> according to his letter to her when she was recovering from ]. Although Newton, who had no children, had divested much of his estate onto relatives in his last years he actually died ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
After his death, Newton's body was discovered to have had massive amounts of ] in it, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. ] could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Newton.html |title=Newton, Isaac (1642-1727) |work=Eric Weisstein's World of Biography |accessdate=2006-08-30}}</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
==Religious views== |
|
|
{{main|Isaac Newton's religious views}} |
|
|
{{see also|Isaac Newton's occult studies}} |
|
|
Although the laws of motion and universal gravitation became Newton's best-known discoveries, he warned against using them to view the universe as a mere machine, as if akin to a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."<ref>{{cite book |last=Tiner |first=J.H. |year=1975 |title=Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist and Teacher |publisher=Mott Media |location=Milford, Michigan, U.S.}}</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
His scientific fame notwithstanding, Newton's study of the Bible and of the early ] were among his greatest passions. He devoted more time to the study of the Scriptures, the Fathers, and to ] than to science, and said, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were were one and the same, observing and understanding how the world functioned. |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton may have rejected the church's doctrine of the Trinity. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that he more likely held the ] view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by ]s, ]s, and most ]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pfizenmaier |first=T.C. |year=1997 |title=Was Isaac Newton an Arian? |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=pp. 57-80}}</ref> In his own day, he was also accused of being a ] (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II).<ref>{{cite book |last=Yates |first=Frances A. |year=1972 |title=The Rosicrucian Enlightenment |publisher=Routledge |location=London}}</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
In his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He believed in a rationally immanent world, but he rejected the ] implicit in Leibniz and ]. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed ] could be understood, and must be understood, by an active reason, but this universe, to be perfect and ordained, had to be regular. |
|
|
|
|
|
===Newton's effect on religious thought=== |
|
|
]; here, Newton is depicted as a 'divine geometer']] |
|
|
Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |pages=p. 200}}</ref> and, at the same time, the second wave of English ] used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion." |
|
|
|
|
|
The attacks made against pre-] "magical thinking," and the ], were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through ]s and, perhaps more importantly, was very successful in popularising them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haakonssen |first=Knud |editor=Martin Fitzpatrick ed. |chapter=The Enlightenment, politics and providence: some Scottish and English comparisons |title=Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=p. 64}}</ref> Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frankel |first=Charles |year=1948 |title=The Faith of Reason: The Idea of Progress in the French Enlightenment |publisher=King's Crown Press |location=New York |pages=p. 1}}</ref> These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed man to pursue his own aims fruitfully in this life, not , 1850; cited in; ibid, p. 65.</ref><ref>Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. “The emergence of Rational Dissent.” Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p19.</ref> But the unforeseen ] consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the world’s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in God’s creation, something impossible for a perfect and ] creator.<ref> Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. p201.</ref> Leibniz's ] cleared God from the responsibility for ''"]"'' by making God removed from participation in his creation. The understanding of the world was now brought down to the level of simple human reason, and humans, as Odo Marquard argued, became responsible for the correction and elimination of evil.<ref>Marquard, Odo. "Burdened and Disemburdened Man and the Flight into Unindictability," in Farewell to Matters of Principle. Robert M. Wallace trans. London: Oxford UP, 1989.</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the ]s, a religious ] dedicated to the concept of a mechanical universe, but finding in it the same enthusiasm and mysticism that the Enlightenment had fought so hard to extinguish.<ref>Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720. p100-101.</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
==Newton and the counterfeiters== |
|
|
As warden of the royal mint, Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The ] were ]. Counterfeiting was ], punishable by death by ]. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task. |
|
|
|
|
|
He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, ] still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a ] and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed. He later ordered all records of his interrogations to be destroyed.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
|
|
|
|
|
Possibly Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner. One of Chaloner's schemes was to set up phony conspiracies of ] and then turn in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton was outraged, and went about the work to uncover anything about Chaloner. During his studies, he found that Chaloner was engaged in counterfeiting. He immediately put Chaloner on trial, but Mr Chaloner had friends in high places, and to Newton's horror, Chaloner walked free. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of ] and ] on March 23 1699 at ].<ref>Westfall 1980, pp. 571-5</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
==Enlightenment philosophers== |
|
|
] philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessors—Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principally—as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept of ] and ] to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded.<ref>Cassels, Alan. Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World. p2.</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
It was Newton’s conception of the universe based upon Natural and rationally understandable laws that became the seed for Enlightenment ]. Locke and ] applied concepts of Natural Law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the ]s and ] applied Natural conceptions of |
|
|
# ''Newton's Second Law'' states that an applied force, <math> F </math>, on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum, <math> p </math>. Mathematically, this is written as <math> \vec F = \frac{d\vec p}{dt} \, = \, \frac{d}{dt} (m \vec v) \, = \, \vec v \, \frac{dm}{dt} + m \, \frac{d\vec v}{dt} \,.</math> Assuming the mass to be constant, the first term vanishes. Defining the acceleration to be <math>\vec a \ =\ d\vec v/dt </math> results in the famous equation <math> \vec F = m \, \vec a \,,</math> which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to its mass. In the MKS system of measurement, mass is given in ], acceleration in metres per second squared, and force in ]s (named in his honour). |
|
|
# ''Newton's Third Law'' states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. |
|
|
|
|
|
==Newton's apple== |
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
<div style="font-size:115%"> |
|
|
{{rquote|left|When Newton saw an apple fall, he found, in that slight startle from his contemplation, ‘tis said, a mode of proving that the earth turn’d round in a most natural whirl, called '']''; and this is the sole mortal who could grapple, since Adam, with a fall, or with an apple.<ref>] (1821), Canto 10, Verse I. In Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Lord Byron: The Complete Poetical Works (1986), Vol. 5, 437</ref>}}</div> |
|
|
|
|
|
A popular story claims that Newton was inspired to formulate his theory of universal gravitation by the fall of an apple from a tree. Cartoons have gone further to suggest the apple actually hit Newton's head, and that its impact somehow made him aware of the force of gravity. John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the royal mint and husband of Newton's niece, described the event when he wrote about Newton's life: |
|
|
<blockquote> |
|
|
In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge to his mother in Lincolnshire. Whilst he was pensively meandering in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from a tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought. Why not as high as the Moon said he to himself & if so, that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a calculating what would be the effect of that supposition.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/texts/viewtext.php? |
|
|
A contemporary writer, ], recorded in his ''Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life'' a conversation with Newton in Kensington on ] ], in which Newton recalled "when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre." In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his ''Essay on Epic Poetry'' (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." These accounts are probably exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home (]) and watching an apple fall from a tree. |
|
|
|
|
|
Various trees are claimed to be "the" apple tree which Newton describes. The King's School, Grantham, claims that the tree was purchased by the school, uprooted and transported to the headmaster's garden some years later, the staff of the ]-owned Woolsthorpe Manor dispute this, and claim that a tree present in their gardens is the one described by Newton. A descendant of the original tree can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale<ref>http://www.brogdale.org.uk/nfc_home.php</ref> can supply grafts from their tree (ref 1948-729), which appears identical to ], a coarse-fleshed cooking variety. |
|
|
|
|
|
In ], an ] named after this theory premiered on ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
==Writings by Newton== |
|
|
* '']'' (1671) |
|
|
*''Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation'' (1671–75) unpublished work on alchemy<ref> transcribed and online at ] retrieved ], ]</ref> |
|
|
* ''[[of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended'' and ''De mundi systemate'' were published posthumously in 1728. |
|
|
* '']'' (1754) |
|
|
|
|
|
==Fame== |
|
|
|
|
|
French mathematician ] often said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived, and once added that he was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish."<ref>{{cite web |last=Wilson |first=Fred L. |title=History of Science: Newton |work=Fred Wilson's Physics Web |url=http://www.rit.edu/~flwstv/newton.html |accessdate=2006-08-29}} citing: Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J. L. Lagrange," ''Oeuvres de Lagrange'' I. Paris, 1867, p. xx.</ref> English poet ] was moved by Newton's accomplishments to write the famous ]: |
|
|
{{cquote|Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;<br /> |
|
|
God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.}} |
|
|
|
|
|
Newton himself was rather more modest of his own achievements, famously writing in a letter to ] in February ] <blockquote>"If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants"</blockquote> Historians generally think the |
|
|
and then in a memoir later <blockquote>"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."<ref>Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855) by Sir David Brewster (Volume II. Ch. 27)</ref> |
|
|
</blockquote> |
|
|
|
|
|
==See also== |
|
|
*] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* "]" |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
|
|
|
==Footnotes and references== |
|
|
{{reflist|2}} |
|
|
|
|
|
==Resources== |
|
|
Newton & his times | location = New York | publisher = Free Press | year = 1984 | id = ISBN 0-02-905190-8 }} This well documented work provides, in particular, valuable information regarding Newton's knowledge of ] |
|
|
* {{cite web | url = http://www.wamu.org/audio/dr/03/06/r2030613.ram | title = interview with James Gleick: "Isaac Newton" (Pantheon) | work = WAMU's The Diane Rehm Show Friday, ] 2003 (RealAudio stream) | accessmonthday=8 March | accessyear = 2005 }} |
|
|
* {{cite web | url = http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Newton.html | title = Sir Isaac Newton | work = School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland | accessmonthday=8 March | accessyear = 2005 }} |
|
|
* {{cite web | url = http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/ | title = The Newton Project | work = Imperial College London | accessmonthday=8 March | accessyear = 2005 }} |
|
|
* {{cite book | authorlink = Richard S. Westfall | last = Westfall | first = Richard S. | title = Never at Rest | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1980, 1998 | id = ISBN 0-521-27435-4 }} |
|
|
* {{cite book | last = Craig | first=John | chapter = Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters | title = Notes and Records of the Royal Society (18) | location= London | publisher=The Royal Society | year = 1963 }} |
|
|
*"The Invisible Science." ''Magical Egypt''. Chance Gardner and John Anthony West. 2005. |
|
|
|
|
|
===Further reading=== |
|
|
. ''Readings in the Literature of Science''. Harper & Row, New York, (1959). |
|
|
*Gjertsen, Derek. ''The Newton Handbook'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, (1986). |
|
|
* Gleick, James. ''Isaac Newton''. Knopf, (2003). hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0-375-42233-1. |
|
|
* ], ed. ''On the Shoulders of Giants''. ISBN 0-7624-1348-4 Places selections from Newton's ''Principia'' in the context of selected writings by ], ], ] and ]. |
|
|
* ] '']''. Carol Publishing Group, (July 1992), paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0-8065-1350-0. |
|
|
* ]. ''Essays in Biography''. W W Norton & Co, 1963, paperback, ISBN 0-393-00189-X. Keynes had taken a close interest in Newton and owned many of Newton's private papers. |
|
|
* Newton, Isaac. ''Papers and Letters in Natural Philosophy'', edited by ]. Harvard University Press, 1958,1978. ISBN 0-674-46853-8. |
|
|
* Newton, Isaac (1642-1727). ''The Principia'': a new Translation, Guide by I. Bernard Cohen ISBN 0-520-08817-4 University of California (1999) ''Warning: common mistranslations exposed!'' |
|
|
* Shapley, Harlow, S. Rapport, and H. Wright. ''A Treasury of Science''; "Newtonia" pp. 147-9; "Discoveries" pp. 150-4. Harper & Bros., New York, (1946). |
|
|
* Simmons, J. ''The giant book of scientists -- The 100 greatest minds of all time'', Sydney: The Book Company, (1996). |
|
|
* ]. ''Newton, The man.'' G.D. Knox, London, 1931. Preface by ]. Reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York (1972). |
|
|
*Whiteside, D. T. ''The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton - 8 volumes'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (1967-81). |
|
|
*Isaac Newton, Sir; J Edleston; ], , London, John W. Parker, West Strand; Cambridge, John Deighton, 1850. – ] |
|
|
|
|
|
==External links== |
|
|
{{wikiquote}} |
|
|
{{wikisource author}} |
|
|
{{commons|Isaac Newton}} |
|
|
* |
|
|
* By combining images, audio, animations and interactive segments, the application gives students a sense of Newton's multifaceted mind. |
|
|
* {{gutenberg author|id=Isaac_Newton|name=Isaac Newton}} |
|
|
* - A study by on how Newton approximated the solutions of a first-order ODE using infinite series. |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* {{dmoz|Science/Physics/History/People/Newton,_Isaac/|Isaac Newton}} |
|
|
* |
|
|
1701-25-mint-reports.html Newton's Royal Mint Reports] |
|
|
* ] TV programme. |
|
|
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Newton}} |
|
|
* |
|
|
* Educational material |
|
|
* Research on his Alchemical writings |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
|
|
|
|
{{academia |
|
|
|teachers=] |
|
|
|
|
|
}} |
|
|
{{end box}} |
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- Metadata: see ] --> |
|
|
|
|
|
{{Persondata |
|
|
|NAME=Newton, Isaac |
|
|
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Newton, Sir Isaac |
|
|
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer |
|
|
|DATE OF BIRTH=] ] |
|
|
|PLACE OF BIRTH=], ], ] |
|
|
|DATE OF DEATH=] ] |
|
|
|PLACE OF DEATH=], ], ] |
|
|
}} |
|
|
|
|
|
{{Template:Enlightenment}} |
|
|
|
|
|
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Issac}} |
|
|
{{Link FA|bg}} |
|
|
{{Link FA|es}} |
|
|
{{Link FA|ms}} |
|
|
{{Link FA|vi}} |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|