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Isaac newton

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{{featured article}} {{Infobox_Biography | subject_name=Sir Isaac Newton | image_name=GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg | image_caption= Sir Isaac Newton at 46 in Godfrey Kneller's 1689 portrait. | dead=dead | date_of_birth={{OldStyleDate|4 January|1643|25 December 1642}} | place_of_birth=Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England | date_of_death={{OldStyleDate|31 March|1727|20 March}} | place_of_death=Kensington, London }} Knighthood Sir '''Isaac Newton''', Presidents of the Royal Society PRS, (4 January 1643 â€“ 31 March 1727) [Old style OS: 25 December 1642 â€“ 20 March 1727] was an England English physics physicist, mathematics mathematician, astronomy astronomer, alchemy alchemist, inventor, and natural philosophy natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. Newton wrote the ''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' wherein he described law of universal gravitation universal gravitation and the three Newton's laws of motion laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from this system, he was the first to show that the motion of bodies on Earth and of celestial mechanics celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. The unifying and determinism deterministic power of his laws was integral to the scientific revolution and the advancement of heliocentrism. Among other scientific discoveries, Newton realized that the spectrum of color colours observed when white light passes through a prism is inherent in the white light and not added by the prism (as Roger Bacon had claimed in the 13th century), and notably argued that wave-particle duality light is composed of particles. He also developed a Newton's law of cooling law of cooling, describing the rate of cooling of objects when exposed to air. He enunciated the principles of conservation of momentum conservation of momentum and angular momentum. Finally, he studied the speed of sound in air, and voiced a theory of the origin of stars. Among Westerners, Newton played a major role in the history of calculus, sharing credit with Gottfried Leibniz. He also made contributions to other areas of mathematics, having derived the binomial theorem in its entirety. The mathematician and mathematical physicist Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813), said that "Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish." {{fn|20}}

Biography

Early years
{{IsaacNewtonSegments}} {{details|Isaac Newton's early life and achievements}} Newton was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth (at Woolsthorpe Manor), a Hamlet (place) hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. Newton was prematurely born and no one expected him to live; indeed, his mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, is reported to have said that his body at that time could have fit inside a quart mug (Bell, 1937). His father, Isaac, had died three months before Newton's birth. When Newton was two, his mother went to live with her new husband, leaving her son in the care of his grandmother. According to Eric Temple Bell E.T. Bell (1937, Simon and Schuster) and H. Eves: :''Newton began his schooling in the village schools and was later sent to Grantham Grammar School where he became the top boy in the school. At Grantham he lodged with the local apothecary, William Clarke (apothecary) William Clarke and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storer, before he went off to University of Cambridge Cambridge University at the age of 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storer married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded 'sweethearts' and never married.'' However, William Stukeley and Mrs Vincent, the source which Bell and Eves have embroidered so unhelpfully, merely say that Newton entertained 'a passion' for her while he lodged at the Clarke house. Mrs Vincent's maiden name was Katherine Storer, not Anne. Image:newton.jpg thumb|left|Engraving after Enoch Seeman's 1726 portrait of Newton From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at Grantham Grammar School The King's School in Grantham (where his signature can still be seen upon a library window sill). He was removed from school and by Oct 1659 he was to be found at Woolsthorpe where his mother attempted to make a farmer of him. He was, by later reports of his contemporaries, thoroughly unhappy with the work. It appears to be 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. His teacher said: :''His genius now begins to mount upwards apace and shine out with more strength. He excels particularly in making verses. In everything he undertakes, he discovers an application equal to the pregnancy of his parts and exceeds even the most sanguine expectations I have conceived of him.'' In June 1661 he matriculated to Trinity College, Cambridge. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as RenÃ© Descartes Descartes and astronomers such as Galileo Galilei Galileo, Nicolaus Copernicus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler Kepler. In 1665 he discovered the 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 Great Plague. For the next 18 months Newton worked at home on calculus, optics and law of gravitation.

Middle years

=Mathematical research
= Newton became a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College in 1669. In the same year he circulated his findings in ''De Analysi per Aequationes Numeri Terminorum Infinitas'' (''On Analysis by Infinite Series''), and later in ''De methodis serierum et fluxionum'' (''On the Methods of Series and Fluxions''), whose title gave rise to the "method of fluxions". Newton is generally credited with the binomial theorem, an essential step toward the development of modern Mathematical analysis analysis. Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed the calculus independently, using different notations. Although Newton had worked out his method years before Leibniz, 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. 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 Royal Society accused Leibniz of plagiarism, and the dispute broke out in full force in 1711. Thus began the bitter Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy calculus priority dispute with Leibniz, which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716. This dispute created a divide between British and Continental mathematicians that may have retarded the progress of British mathematics by at least a century. Newton discovered Newton's identities, Newton's method, classified polynomials of degree 3 in 2 variables, made substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences, and was the first to use fractional indices and to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions to diophantine equations. He approximated partial sums of the harmonic series by logarithms (a precursor to Euler's summation formula), and was the first to use power series with confidence and to revert power series. He discovered new formulae for pi. He was elected Lucasian professor of mathematics in 1669. In that day, any fellow of Cambridge or Oxford University Oxford 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 Charles II of England Charles II, 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 he lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the refraction of light, demonstrating that a Prism (optics) prism could decompose white light into a optical spectrum spectrum of colours, and that a Lens (optics) lens 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 Isaac Newton's early life and achievements#Newton's theory of colour Newton's theory of colour. Many of his findings in this field were criticized by later theorists, the most well-known being Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who postulated his own colour theories. Image:NewtonsTelescopeReplica.jpg Royal Society.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society..html" title="Meaning of left|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society">thumb|left|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society.">left|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society">thumb|left|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society. From this work he concluded that any refracting telescope would suffer from the dispersion (optics) dispersion of light into colours, and invented a reflecting telescope (today, known as a Newtonian telescope) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors, using Newton's rings to judge the quality 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. (Only later, as glasses with a variety of refractive properties became available, did Lens (optics)#Chromatic aberration achromatic lenses for refractors become feasible.) 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 Robert Hooke 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. In one experiment, to prove that colour perception is caused by pressure on the eye, Newton slid a darning needle around the side of his eye until he could poke at its rear side, dispassionately noting "white, darke & coloured circles" so long as he kept stirring with "y^e bodkin." Newton argued that light is composed of particles, but he had to associate them with waves to explain the diffraction of light (''Opticks'' Bk. II, Props. XII-XX). Later physicists instead favoured a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for diffraction. Today's quantum mechanics restores the idea of "wave-particle duality", although photons bear very little resemblance to Newton's ''corpuscles'' (e.g., corpuscles refracted by accelerating toward the denser medium). {{dubious}} Newton is believed to have been the first to explain precisely the formation of the rainbow from water droplets dispersed in the Earth's atmosphere atmosphere in a rain shower. Figure 15 of Part II of Book One of the ''Opticks'' shows a perfect illustration of how this occurs. In his ''Hypothesis of Light'' of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the luminiferous aether ether to transmit forces between particles. Newton was in contact with Henry More, the Cambridge Platonists Cambridge Platonist who was born in Grantham, on alchemy, and now his interest in the subject revived. He replaced the ether with occult forces based on Hermeticism Hermetic ideas of attraction and repulsion between particles. John Maynard Keynes, who acquired many of Newton's writings on alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."{{fn.html">occult idea of action at a distance (physics) action_at a distance.html" title="Meaning of 2}}. (This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science.) Had he not relied on the action_at a distance">action at a distance, across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity. (See also Isaac Newton's occult studies.) In 1704 Newton wrote ''Opticks'', in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. The book is also known for the first exposure of the idea of the interchangeability of mass and energy: "Gross bodies and light are convertible into one another...". Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional electrostatic generator, using a glass globe (Optics, 8th Query).

=Gravity and motion
= Image:NewtonsPrincipia.jpg thumb|250px|right|Newton's own copy of his Principia, with hand written corrections for the second edition. {{further|the writing of Principia Mathematica}} In 1679, Newton returned to his work on classical mechanics mechanics, i.e., gravitation and its effect on the orbits of planets, with reference to Johannes Kepler Kepler's Kepler's laws of planetary motion laws of motion, and consulting with Hooke and John Flamsteed Flamsteed 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 ''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' (now known as the ''Principia'') was published on 5 July, 1687{{fn|1}} with encouragement and financial help from Edmond Halley. In this work Newton stated the three universal laws of motion that were not to be improved upon for more than two hundred years. He used the Latin word ''gravitas'' (weight) for the force that would become known as gravity, and defined the law of universal gravitation. In the same work he presented the first analytical determination, based on Boyle's law, of the speed of sound in air. With the ''Principia'', Newton became internationally recognised. He acquired a circle of admirers, including the Switzerland Swiss-born mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, with whom he formed an intense relationship that lasted until 1693. The end of this friendship led Newton to a nervous breakdown.

Later life
Image:Newtonshair.JPG Trinity College, Cambridge.html" title="Meaning of left left|thumb|229px|A lock of Newton's hair in [[Trinity College, Cambridge..html" title="Meaning of thumb|229px|A lock of Newton's hair in [[Trinity College, Cambridge">left|thumb|229px|A lock of Newton's hair in [[Trinity College, Cambridge.">thumb|229px|A lock of Newton's hair in [[Trinity College, Cambridge">left|thumb|229px|A lock of Newton's hair in [[Trinity College, Cambridge. {{details|Isaac Newton's later life}} In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible. Henry More's belief in the infinity of the universe and rejection of Cartesian dualism may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to John Locke in which he disputed the existence of the Trinity was never published. Later works â€” ''The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended'' (1728) and ''Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John'' (1733) â€” were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above){{fn|2}}. Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England 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 London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and finagling Edmond Halley into the job of deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch). Newton became Master of the Mint upon Lucas' death in 1699. These appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously, exercising his power to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters. He retired from his Cambridge duties in 1701. Ironically, it was his work at the Mint, rather than his contributions to science, which earned him a knighthood from Anne of Great Britain Queen Anne in 1705. Newton was made President of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French French Academy of Sciences AcadÃ©mie des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's star catalogue. Newton died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt{{fn.html">Jermyn Street in London; he was her "very loving Uncle" {{fn 4}}, according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox. In later years there has been some speculation that Newton had Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. See People speculated to have been autistic. It has also been suggested that Isaac Newton may have died a virgin. There were no known romantic encounters during his lifetime. Also, Newton's prudent character and obsessive manner may have deterred the prospect of sexual encounters.

Religious views
Image:Bolton-newton.jpg thumb|right|Isaac Newton (''Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889'') {{main|Isaac Newton's religious views}} {{see also|Isaac Newton's occult studies}} The law of gravity became Newton's best-known discovery. He warned against using it to view the universe as a mere machine, like 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."{{citeneeded}} His scientific fame notwithstanding, the Bible was Newton's greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture and Alchemy than to science, and said, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily."{{citeneeded}} Newton himself wrote works on textual criticism, most notably ''An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture''. Newton also placed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at 3 April, AD 33, which is now the accepted traditional date. He also attempted, unsuccessfully, to find hidden messages within the Bible (See Bible code). Despite his focus in theology and alchemy, Newton tested and investigated these myths with the scientific method, observing, hypothesizing, and testing his theories. To Newton, his scientific and religious experiments were one and the same, observing and understanding how the world functioned. Newton rejected the church's doctrine of the Trinity trinity, and was probably a follower of arianism. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that he more likely held the Eastern Orthodox view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and most Protestants {{fn.html">Rosicrucianism Rosicrucian (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II).{{fn|8}} 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 hylozoism implicit in Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed universe 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
Image:Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg William Blake.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|Newton, by [[William Blake.html" title="Meaning of left|Newton, by [[William Blake">thumb|left|Newton, by [[William Blake">left|Newton, by [[William Blake">thumb|left|Newton, by [[William Blake Newton and Robert Boyleâ€™s mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheism pantheists and enthusiasm enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians.{{fn.html">metaphysics metaphysical_superlatives of both superstition superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism{{fn.html" title="Meaning of superstition.html" title="Meaning of superstition">superstition superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism{{fn">deism deists used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion." The attacks made against pre-Age of Enlightenment Enlightenment "magical thinking," and the Christian mysticism mystical elements of Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyleâ€™s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyleâ€™s ideas their completion through mathematical proofs, and more importantly was very successful in popularising them.{{fn.html">afterlife the next, and to perfect himself with his own rational powers.{{fn|13}} The perceived ability of Newtonians to explain the world, both physical and social, through logical calculations alone is the crucial idea in the disenchantment of Christianity.{{fn|14}} Newton saw God as the master creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation {{fn|5}}{{fn|6}}{{fn|14}} But the unforeseen Christian theology theological consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the worldâ€™s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in Godâ€™s creation, something impossible for a perfect and omnipotent creator.{{fn.html">theodicy cleared God from the responsibility for ''"l'origine_du mal.html" title="Meaning of theodicy.html" title="Meaning of Problem of evil l'origine_du mal">Problem of evil|l'origine du mal"'' 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.{{fn|16}} On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the millenarians, a religious faction 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.{{fn|17}}

Newton and the counterfeiters
As warden of the royal mint, Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The Great Recoinage were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was treason, punishable by death by drawing and quartering. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be maddeningly impossible to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task. He assembled facts and proved his theories with the same brilliance in law that he had shown in science.{{fact}} 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, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a justice of the peace and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. Newton later ordered all records of his interrogations to be destroyed.{{fact}} Regardless, Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed. Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner, a rogue with a devious intelligence. One of his schemes was to set up phoney conspiracies of Catholicism Catholics and then turned in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament of England 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. All the time, he struck false coins, or so Newton eventually proved to a court of competent jurisdiction. On March 23, 1699, Chaloner was hanged, drawn and quartered.{{fact}}

Enlightenment philosophers
Enlightenment philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessorsâ€”Galileo Galilei Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principallyâ€”as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept of Nature and Natural law Natural Law 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.{{fn|19}} It was Newtonâ€™s conception of the universe based upon Natural and rationally understandable laws that became the seed for Enlightenment ideology. John Locke Locke and Voltaire applied concepts of Natural Law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the physiocrats and Adam Smith applied Natural conceptions of psychology and self-interest to economic systems and the sociology sociologists critiqued how the current social order fit history into Natural models of progress.

Newton's legacy
Image:StatueOfIsaacNewton.jpg Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|left|Statue of Newton by [[Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac in the antechapel of Trinity College, Cambridge.html" title="Meaning of left|Statue of Newton by [[Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac">thumb|left|Statue of Newton by [[Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac in the antechapel of Trinity College, Cambridge">left|Statue of Newton by [[Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac">thumb|left|Statue of Newton by [[Louis-FranÃ§ois Roubiliac in the antechapel of Trinity College, Cambridge Newton's Newton's laws of motion laws of motion and gravity provided a basis for predicting a wide variety of different scientific or engineering situations, especially the motion of celestial bodies. His calculus proved vitally important to the development of further scientific theories. Finally, he unified many of the isolated physics facts that had been discovered earlier into a satisfying system of laws. Newton's conceptions of gravity and mechanics, though not entirely correct in light of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, still represent an enormous step in the evolution of human understanding of the universe. For this reason, he is generally considered one of history's greatest scientists. In 1717, the Kingdom of Great Britain went on to an unofficial gold standard when Newton, then Master of the Mint, established a fixed price of Â£3.17.10 Â½d per standard (22 carat) troy ounce, equal to Â£4.4.11 Â½d per fine ounce. Under the gold standard the value of the pound (currency) pound (measured in gold weight) remained largely constant until the beginning of the 20th century. Newton is reputed to have invented the cat flap. This was said to be done so that he would not have to disrupt his optical experiments, conducted in a darkened room, to let his cat in or out. Newtonmas is a holiday celebrated by some scientists as an alternative to Christmas, taking advantage of the fact that Newton's birthday falls on 25 December. In July 1992, the Isaac Newton Institute Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences was opened at Cambridge University - it is regarded as the United Kingdom's national institute for mathematical research.

Newton's Three Laws
The famous three laws of Newton are: # Newton's First Law (also known as the Law of Inertia) states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by a net external force. # Newton's Second Law states that an applied force equals the rate of change of momentum. For constant mass: F=ma, or force equals mass times acceleration. In other words, the acceleration produced by a net force on an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force and inversely proportional to the mass. In the MKS system of measurement, mass is given in kilograms, acceleration in meters per second squared, and force in newtons (named in his honor). # Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton's apple
Image:Newton's tree, Botanic Gardens, Cambridge.JPG Cambridge.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in [[Cambridge, England..html" title="Meaning of right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in [[Cambridge">thumb|right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in [[Cambridge, England.">right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in [[Cambridge">thumb|right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in [[Cambridge, England. 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. There is no basis to '''''that''''' interpretation, but the story of the apple may have something to it. 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:

In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge ... to his mother in Lincolnshire & while he was musing 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 thought he to himself & that 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 superposition... (Keesing, R.G., The History of Newton's apple tree, Contemporary Physics, 39, 377-91, 1998)

The question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the moon to its orbit. Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed [http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sgravity/htm calculate the Moon's orbital period], and get good agreement. He guessed the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it '''universal gravitation'''. ''(From earlier entry)'' A contemporary writer, William Stukeley, recorded in his ''Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life'' a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726, 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 exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home (Woolsthorpe Manor) and watching an apple fall from a tree.

Writings by Newton
* ''Method of Fluxions'' (1671) * ''De Motu Corporum in Gyrum'' (1684) * ''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' (1687) * ''Opticks'' (1704) * ''[http://www.pierre-marteau.com/currency/ed/newton-intro.html Reports as Master of the Mint]'' (1701-1725) * ''Arithmetica Universalis'' (1707) * ''An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture'' (1754) * ''Short Chronicle'', ''The System of the World'', ''Optical Lectures'', ''Universal Arithmetic'', ''The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended'' and ''De mundi systemate'' were published posthumously in 1728.

Notes

* {{fnb|1}} The remainder of the dates in this article follow the Gregorian calendar. * {{fnb|2}} Westfall (pp. 530â€“531) notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches. * {{fnb|3}} Westfall, p. 44. * {{fnb|4}} Westfall, p. 595. * {{fnb|5}} ''Principia'', Book '''III'''; cited in; ''Newtonâ€™s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings'', p. 42, ed. H.S. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, NY, 1953. * {{fnb|6}} ''A Short Scheme of the True Religion'', manuscript quoted in ''Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton'' by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ''ibid'', p. 65. * {{fnb|7}} Pfizenmaier, T.C., "Was Isaac Newton an Arian?" ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''68'''(1):57â€“80, 1997. * {{fnb|8}} Yates, Frances A. ''The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.'' London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972. * {{fnb|8}} Jacob, Margaret C. ''The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720.'' p28. * {{fnb|9}} Jacob, Margaret C. ''The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720.'' p37 and p44. * {{fnb|10}} Westfall, Richard S. ''Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England.'' Yale University Press, New Haven: 1958. p200. * {{fnb|11}} Fitzpatrick, Martin. ed. Knud Haakonssen. â€œThe Enlightenment, politics and providence: some Scottish and English comparisons.â€? ''Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p64. * {{fnb|12}} Frankel, Charles. ''The Faith of Reason: The Idea of Progress in the French Enlightenment.'' Kingâ€™s Crown Press, New York: 1948. p1. * {{fnb|13}} Germain, Gilbert G. ''A Discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Politics and Technology.'' p28. * {{fnb|14}} Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. â€œThe emergence of Rational Dissent.â€? ''Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p19. * {{fnb|15}} Westfall, Richard S. ''Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England.'' p201. * {{fnb|16}} 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. * {{fnb|17}} Jacob, Margaret C. ''The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720.'' p100-101. * {{fnb|18}} Jacob, Margaret C. ''The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720.'' p61. * {{fnb|19}} Cassels, Alan. ''Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World.'' p2. * {{fnb|20}} Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J. L. Lagrange," in ''Oeuvres de Lagrange'', I. Paris, 1867, p. xx. [http://www.rit.edu/~flwstv/newton.html (cited by Fred L. Wilson)] * {{fnb|21}} Keynes, John Maynard ''Essays in Biography'', ''"Newton, The Man"'' p363-364 The Collected Writtings of John Maynard Keynes, Volume X, MacMillan St. Martin's Press, The Royal Economic Society: 1972.

See also
* History of calculus * Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy * "Standing on the shoulders of giants" * Newton-Cotes formulas * Gauss-Newton algorithm * Newton fractal * Newton polygon

Resources

References

* {{cite book | authorlink = Eric Temple Bell | last = Bell | first = E.T. | title = Men of Mathematics | location = New York | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 1937 | id = ISBN 0671464000 }} [http://scidiv.bcc.ctc.edu/Math/Newton.html Excerpt] * {{cite book | last = Christianson | first = Gale | title = In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton & his times | location = New York | publisher = Free Press | year = 1984 | id = ISBN 0029051908 }} * {{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, June 13, 2003 (RealAudio stream) | accessyear = 2005 | accessdate = March 8 }} * {{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 | accessyear = 2005 | accessdate = March 8 }} * {{cite web | url = http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/ | title = The Newton Project | work = Imperial College London | accessyear = 2005 | accessdate = March 8 }} * {{cite book | last = Westfall | first = Richard S. | title = Never at Rest | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1980, 1998 | id = ISBN 0521274354 }} * {{cite book | last = Craig | first Sir John | title = Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters | work = Notes and Records of the Royal Society (18) | publisher = London:The Royal Society | year = 1963 }}

Further reading
* John Maynard Keynes, ''Essays in Biography'', W W Norton & Co, 1963, paperback, ISBN 039300189X. Keynes had taken a close interest in Newton and owned many of Newton's private papers. * Isaac Newton, ''Papers and Letters in Natural Philosophy'', edited by I. Bernard Cohen ISBN 0-674-46853-8 Harvard 1958,1978 * Michael H. Hart, ''The 100'', Carol Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0806513500 * Simmons, J, ''The giant book of scientists -- The 100 greatest minds of all time'', Sydney: The Book Company, (1996) * Isaac Newton (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!'' *David Berlinski Berlinski, David, ''Newton's Gift:How Sir Isaac Newton Unlocked the System of our World'', ISBN 0684843927 (hardback), also in paperback, Simon & Schuster, 2000 * Stephen Hawking, ed. ''On the Shoulders of Giants'', ISBN 0-7624-1348-5 Places selections from Newton's ''Principia'' in the context of selected writings by Copernicus, Johannes Kepler Kepler, Galileo Galilei Galileo and Albert Einstein Einstein. * James Gleick, ''Isaac Newton'', Knopf, 2003, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0375422331 * Gale E. Christianson, ''In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times'' Collier MacMillan, 1984, 608 pages * Harlow Shapley, S. Rapport, H. Wright, ''A Treasury of Science''; "Newtonia" pp. 147-9; "Discoveries" pp. 150-4. Harper & Bros., New York, 1946. * William C. Dampier & M. Dampier, ''Readings in the Literature of Science,'' Harper & Row, New York, 1959.