Sir Isaac Newton PRS (/ˈnjuːtən/;[6] 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27[1]) was an

English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (described in his own day as a "natural
philosopher") who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key
figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia
Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the
foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and he
shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.
Newton's Principia formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that dominated scientists'
view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary
motion from his mathematical description of gravity, and using the same principles to account for
the trajectories of comets, the tides, the precession of the equinoxes, and other phenomena, Newton
removed the last doubts about the validity of the heliocentric model of the Solar System and
demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies could be accounted for by
the same principles. Newton's theoretical prediction that the Earth is shaped as an oblate
spheroid was later vindicated by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and
others, thus convincing most Continental European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian
mechanics over the earlier system of Descartes.
Newton also built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of
colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the colours of the visible
spectrum. Newton's work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, first published
in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of
the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on
calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised
the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a
function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.
Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian, who privately rejected the
doctrine of the Trinity and who, unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, refused
to take holy orders in the Church of England. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences,
Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his
work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally tied to
the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of
Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and he spent the
last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1700) and Master (1700–1727) of
the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

Life
Early life
Main article: Early life of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born (according to the Julian calendar, in use in England at the time) on
Christmas Day, 25 December 1642 (NS 4 January 1643[1]) "an hour or two after midnight",
[7]
at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. His
father, also named Isaac Newton, had died three months before. Born prematurely, Newton was a
small child; his mother Hannah Ayscough reportedly said that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
[8]
When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the
Reverend Barnabas Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery
Ayscough. The young Isaac disliked his stepfather and maintained some enmity towards his mother
for marrying him, as revealed by this entry in a list of sins committed up to the age of 19:
"Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them." [9] Newton's mother
had three children from her second marriage.[10]

Isaac Newton (Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889)

From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King's School,
Grantham, which taught Latin and Greek and probably imparted a significant foundation of
mathematics.[11] He was removed from school, and by October 1659, he was to be found
at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, where his mother, widowed for a second time, attempted to make a
farmer of him. Newton hated farming.[12] Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, persuaded his
mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. Motivated partly by a
desire for revenge against a schoolyard bully, he became the top-ranked student, [13] distinguishing
himself mainly by building sundials and models of windmills.[14]
In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on the recommendation of his uncle
Rev William Ayscough, who had studied there. He started as a subsizar—paying his way by
performing valet's duties—until he was awarded a scholarship in 1664, guaranteeing him four more
years until he could get his M.A.[15] At that time, the college's teachings were based on those
of Aristotle, whom Newton supplemented with modern philosophers such as Descartes,
and astronomers such as Galileo and Thomas Street, through whom he learned of Kepler's work. He
set down in his notebook a series of 'Quaestiones' about mechanical philosophy as he found it. In
1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory
that later became calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his B.A. degree in August 1665, the
university temporarily closed as a precaution against the Great Plague. Although he had been
undistinguished as a Cambridge student,[16] Newton's private studies at his home in Woolsthorpe
over the subsequent two years saw the development of his theories on calculus,[17] optics, and
the law of gravitation.
In April 1667, he returned to Cambridge and in October was elected as a fellow of Trinity. [18][19] Fellows
were required to become ordained priests, although this was not enforced in the restoration years
and an assertion of conformity to the Church of England was sufficient. However, by 1675 the issue
could not be avoided and by then his unconventional views stood in the way. [20] Nevertheless,
Newton managed to avoid it by means of a special permission from Charles II (see "Middle years"
section below).
His studies had impressed the Lucasian professor Isaac Barrow, who was more anxious to develop
his own religious and administrative potential (he became master of Trinity two years later); in 1669
Newton succeeded him, only one year after receiving his M.A. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society (FRS) in 1672.[5]

Middle years
Mathematics

Newton's work has been said "to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then studied".
[21]
His work on the subject usually referred to as fluxions or calculus, seen in a manuscript of October
1666, is now published among Newton's mathematical papers.[22] The author of the manuscript De
analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas, sent by Isaac Barrow to John Collins in June
1669, was identified by Barrow in a letter sent to Collins in August of that year as: [23]
Mr Newton, a fellow of our College, and very young ... but of an extraordinary genius and proficiency
in these things.