He discovered the three laws of motion that we all know and love. Newton is perhaps best know for his work with gravity. Aether was as idea that survived until the 19th century - when the wave-particle duality was realized, scientists no longer required the theory of aether to explain light's properties, so the theory was no longer needed. To explain some of lights properties, Newton did propose the existence of aether (also called luminiferous aether). Scientists of the time favored a 'light as a wave' approach, a practice that continued in spite of Newton's efforts (today, scientists understand that light actually exists as both a particle and a wave, cryptically named the wave-particle duality). We was able to construct the first practical reflecting telescopes, a design that is known today as a Newtonian Telescope.īecause of his work with light and optics, Newton believed that light was made of particles, instead of waves. This work, and generally Newton's work with refraction, led Newton to work with telescopes. When Newton discovered that a light ray entering a prism is split into different colors (or, wavelengths), this helped to settle this debate. At the time, scholars were in a hot debate on the subject of whether or not color was an intrinsic property of light.

Newton is credited with the discovery of the prism (which is how rainbows, and other cool things, work). Newton's work in optics at the time was unmatched. Because of this, sometimes calculus is referred to as Newton-Leibniz calculus since both men are credited with it's discovery (Newton did, however, have 'better press' so he is better known for the discovery). It has been decided that Newton and Leibniz arrived at calculus independently from one another. Leibniz claimed Newton had stolen his work (now, we have work from Newton that proves he was working on calculus in 1666 as he claimed). Essentially, Newton claimed he started working on calculus in 1666 and published Principia in 1687 Leibniz started working on the new math in 1674 and published his first paper in 1684. The Discovery of CalculusĪlthough Newton gets all of the credit for the discovery of calculus in the modern world, he was involved in a controversy with Gottfried Leibniz over who discovered calculus first. Shortly after Newton's graduation, Trinity closed because of the Great Plague.īetween the Trinity closure in 1665 and Newton's return to Cambridge in 1667, Newton developed calculus, the law of gravitation, and different theories on optics.

I mean, when I 'invent new math', my professors usually tell me I'm wrong). While there, Newton studied the works of the great philosophers and mathematicians, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem, and started to developed the mathematical foundation for calculus - shortly after these accomplishments, Newton graduated (now, my entire college career feel like a waste. After graduation, he continued on to Trinity College. However, that didn't stop Newton from becoming the top student in the school. Newton was thought to have Asperger syndrome and was diagnosed with the disorder by his school psychologist. Newton's mother attempted to make a farmer out of him, but those efforts failed and Newton returned to school. His mother eventually remarried when Newton was three and, after Newton turned 12, he was pulled out of school to return home as his stepfather (who he didn't like) had died. Newton was born prematurely on Decemin Lincolnshire to his mother Hannah Ayscough and his late father Isaac Newton (yes, Newton was named after his father). Generally speaking, Newton's list of accomplishments are long and profound - his influence will be felt for the rest of human history. Newton was also one of the first people to assume that the natural world is governed by universal laws that can be expressed mathematically. His work laid the foundation of classical mechanics (also called Newtonian physics or mechanics in his honor) and is generally credited with jump starting the scientific revolution. Newton was a physicist and mathematician from England. On this day, in 1642, Sir Isaac Newton was born. Today, we celebrate the birthday of one of the most important human beings to walk the face of the Earth.

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