Issac Newton

Thuy-Khue Tran

Biology

Biography of Sir Isaac Newton

        History was due for a change on January 4, 1643 when Isaac Newton was born. Although, he was a premature infant, his future would be extremely bright. Due to his mother's second marriage after his father died, as a child Isaac Newton was raised by his grandmother Margery Ayscough. in a manor house of Woolsthorpe. As you can see, he did not have a joyous childhood instead he had a distant relationship with his half-siblings. He was also a typical sad boy that despised and resented his stepfather.
        Life improved when he reached the age of ten, Isaac Newton had the privilege of attending the Free Grammar School in Grantham. Additionally, his school reports described him as idle and inattentive. Consequently, his own mother resigned him from his education and forced him to manage an estate. Fortunately, he soon showed he had no talent or interest in that subject, with more reason, he was permitted to continue his education.
        Luckily, Newton's uncle encouraged him to further his education in college. After Newton persevered, he was accepted into Trinity College Cambridge in June of 1661. Initially, Isaac Newton aspired to be a lawyer, although his curiosity relating to Copernicus’, Galileo’s, Descartes’, and Kelper’s work led him read countless editions of math books to increase his knowledge and satisfy his curiosity. Afterwards, he received his Bachelors Degree in 1665, however that summer the plague spread and put a temporary halt to his education. Isaac Newton was determined to succeed. As a result, he was elected to a minor fellowship at Trinity College and then earned his Master’s Degree. He didn’t stop there; he then was elected for a major fellowship and became a professor at Cambridge. Afterward, he was appointed Master of Mint, an important office in the British government in that period of time. In 1672 Newton was elected a fellow of the after donating a reflecting telescope which he invented. Finally, in 1707 he was knighted by Queen Anne for his achievements in physics, hence the title Sir.

Although, he was one of the most brilliant scientific intellects his personal life didn’t compare. It seems that his personality and future was affected by his depressing childhood. As a child, Isaac Newton certainly wasn’t traumatized but he grew up to be insecure and depressed. Consequently, this could be one of the reasons why he never took a wife. It appears that he had no interest to be married even when he became extremely wealthy and well-known for his work. Apparently he stayed single through his failures and accomplishments. Newton’s situation remained unchanged when he died on March 31, 1727. The date of his death is of no importance, what’s worthy of our reminiscence is the era where he thrived and was the most productive.

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Every single scientist since Aristotle believed that white light was a simple ray until Isaac Newton disproved this theory by passing a fine beam of sunlight through a glass prism. Furthermore, Newton observed the spectrum of colors appeared. Subsequently, he then concluded the while light is composed of all the colors of the spectrum, it’s a combination of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red. Newton proved light is constructed of particles. Additionally, in 1672 he published his findings in his first scientific paper on light and color in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. After a period of time and when more information was collected, Isaac Newton further supported his theories when he published Opticks. Unlike his first book, Opticks contains his personal experiments, presumptions, and is not portrayed in strict geometric form. Also, it includes an explanation on how light is bent, it also involves color, and reflection by a mirror. Later on, his corpuscular theory was replaced by the wave theory of light; however, his work was not wasted. Modern scientists have combined these two theories and we now call it the quantum theory.

One of Isaac Newton’s better known innovations is the Three Laws of Motion. The first law, also known as Galileo’s Principle or the Law of Inertia is: an object will stay at rest or move at a constant speed in a straight line unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This indicates an object will maintain its fixed position; it cannot perform any action independently. Therefore an object will continue to stay at rest if it is not acted upon by an external force.

Conversely, an object will remain at a constant speed in a straight line unless there is a force that will stop it. For instance, when you happen to fling a pencil across the room, it rolls and eventually stops. Although, a literal object is not preventing the pencil from rolling, friction causes the pencil to stop. Friction is the surface resistance to relative motion. Subsequently, the following law is: the rate of change of momentum of a body is equal to the resultant force acting on the body and is in the same direction. In simpler terminology, Newton is stating that the velocity in the momentum of an object is symmetrical to the amount of force utilized on the object. He also specifies that the change in the course of momentum is decided by the angle from which the force is exercised. It can also be converted into an equation:

Lastly, the law of reciprocal reactions states: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As Isaac Newton would explain it, when an object applies force on another object, that other object would simultaneously exert the same force.

Following the Laws of Motion is calculus. It is known that Isaac Newton is solely responsible for developing calculus. Calculus is a very important subject that we still use today.

However, it seems to me that Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation is his most important discovery.

This law clarifies, gravity has the ability to pull like a magnet, Isaac Newton also concluded it is a universal force. For instance, our earth maintains the moon in orbit by its gravitational pull. Likewise, with the Sun and the planets. Soon after he made these discoveries, the Principia were published. It has been recognized to be the greatest scientific book on this subject. The Principia contains physics, astronomy, and an explanation demonstrating the effects of the universal laws. Years after he published the Principia, Isaac Newton had his second nervous breakdown in 1693. Therefore, he retired from research.

The moment Isaac Newton retired he knew that his life’s work would make a difference. On the account of his breakthroughs, everyone in the world would have a better understanding of physics and gravity. The question, “why?” is answered. Specifically, gravity was a huge mystery that remained a mystery until Newton came along. Gravity will always be around to hold us down, but we wouldn’t know the concept of gravity without his discovery. Without Isaac Newton’s findings, soon others would wonder what holds everything down, however, they wouldn’t have an answer. This leads to ignorant people believing the forces of the heavens keeps every being and object stable on earth. Eventually, the belief of magic, superstition, and religion inflates. At that period of time, history would most likely repeat itself and the world is back into the Dark Ages. Plus, who knows when we would have another Golden Age? Keep in mind that is only a possibility.

Many believe math courses like geometry and calculus are useless in reality. In detail, there are countless people who believe there are no occupations involving calculus on a daily basis. They are absolutely wrong. Newton’s hard work was not done in vain. Currently, calculus is applied in every branch of engineering, physical science, and computer, economics, medicine, and statistics. Specifically, Newton’s discoveries have affected me by making high school a little bit longer. For instance, physics is a required course, pre-calculus, and calculus is mandatory. Far in the future, I may choose a career in engineering and I would have to apply what I learned from calculus. Unfortunately, fewer occupations would be available without Isaac Newton. A larger amount the world’s populace would be unemployed and our present economy would plunge down farther than it already is. The United States alone wouldn’t be able to produce as many products because there wouldn’t be new inventions to create. Engineers wouldn’t be capable of using calculus and develop new products to import or export.

Also, with Isaac Newton missing the world wouldn’t be as advanced. To illustrate, with the world lacking the concept of gravity, Lance Armstrong wouldn’t have been able to land on the moon. No satellites would be up in space; hence we would have no cellular phones. With a method of mobile connection, lives have been saved because of Isaac Newton. Moreover, currently people all over the world can keep in touch. Whether it’s between a pair of friends that live across the street from each other, or family members that are overseas.

Not all of Newton’s discoveries led to things that benefit the world now. To demonstrate, Isaac Newton believed in alchemical transmutation. Evidence shows that he wrote thousands of pages on that subject, but failed to get it published. Possibly without his work or influence, modern society wouldn’t be able to change gasoline (hydrocarbon) into energy. With the world missing cars, we wouldn’t have to face the issue of global warming, the problem with countries disputing over oil, and rising prices of fossil fuel. This might be a non beneficial result of Newton’s work, but his other scientific findings overshadow this negative aspect.

To imagine our existing society without Sir Isaac Newton would be unfeasible. He was an unquestionably accomplished scientist, and our world would be drastically altered without him. However, lets not stop using his discoveries to improve the world. Isaac Newton’s breakthroughs will forever be used for the betterment of mankind.