KNTV PHILOSOPHY

ISAAC NEWTON

BACKGROUND

Isaac Newton made numerous important discoveries about gravity and how it affects the way objects move, about planetary orbit, and about light and the colour spectrum. A fervent believer in God and a brilliant mathematician, his work influenced scientists into the 20th century.

Influences

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

This German mathematician and astronomer deduced that the planets, including Earth, trace an elliptical orbit around the sun. He developed three laws of planetary motion, and also made important advances in geometry and calculus.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

A highly influential Italian astronomer, philosopher, mathematician and physicist, Galileo championed the works of Copernicus (1473-1543), who was the first person to say that the universe revolved around the Sun rather than around the Earth. Galileo developed rigorous experiments to test his theories and looked for mathematical and physical explanations for the laws of nature. He was persecuted for his beliefs by the Catholic Church, and was tried for heresy in 1633. He escaped the death penalty, but spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

Timeline

1642 Isaac Newton is born on Christmas Day. In the same year, Galileo dies, and the English Civil War begins.

1649 Charles I is beheaded, and England becomes a republic under Oliver Cromwell.

1655 Isaac goes to school in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

1658 Oliver Cromwell dies.

1660 Charles II takes the throne.

1661 Newton goes to Cambridge University.

1665 The Great Plague. Newton graduates, but returns to his mother's house to avoid the plague.

1666 The Great Fire of London. Newton, using prisms, discovers the spectrum of light and is also working on theories of calculus and gravity.

1667 Newton returns to Cambridge University as a Fellow.

1669 He becomes Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University.

1672 Newton invents the reflecting telescope, and is elected Fellow of the Royal Society. He is greatly angered by criticisms of some of his ideas, particularly from Robert Hooke, Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, with whom he remains in conflict until Hooke's death in 1703.

1679 Newton's mother dies.

1684 Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) publishes his work on calculus. He and Newton will be in conflict over whose ideas came first for many years to come.

1687 Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which establishes his reputation as a genius.

1689 He is elected MP for Cambridge.

1696 He is appointed Warden of the Royal Mint.

1703 He is elected President of the Royal Society.

1704 Opticks, Newton's work on light, is published.

1705 He is knighted by Queen Anne and becomes Sir Isaac Newton.

1727 Newton dies and is buried in Westminster Abbey.