Sir Isaac Newton

1. Marie, Alex, Kristin, Whitney and Emma Sir Isaac Newton

2. Background Information • Isaac Newton was born on December 25th 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire after the death of his father, also named Isaac. • When he was barely three years old Newton's mother, Hanna (Ayscough), placed her first born with his grandmother in order to remarry and raise a second family with Barnabas Smith, a wealthy rector from nearby North Witham.

3. Background Information • Much has been made of Newton's posthumous birth, his prolonged separation from his mother, and his hatred of his stepfather. Until Hanna returned to Woolsthorpe in 1653 after the death of her second husband, Newton was denied his mother's attention, a possible clue to his complex character. • Newton's childhood was anything but happy, and throughout his life he verged on emotional collapse, occasionally falling into violent and vindictive attacks against friend and foe alike.

4. Education Training • Newton attended school in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire • He entered Cambridge University in 1661; he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1667, and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. He remained at the university, lecturing in most years, until 1696. Of these Cambridge years, in which Newton was at the height of his creative power, he singled out 1665-1666 (spent largely in Lincolnshire because of plague in Cambridge) as "the prime of my age for invention".

5. Education in the 17th Century • There was little change in education in the 17th century. In well off families both boys and girls went to a form of infant school called a petty school. However only boys went to grammar school. Upper class girls (and sometimes boys) were taught by tutors. Middle glass girls might be taught by their mothers. Moreover during the 17th century boarding schools for girls were founded in many towns. In them girls were taught subjects like writing, music and needlework. (It was considered more important for girls to learn 'accomplishments' than to study academic subjects).

6. Patronage • Other scientists were his influence particularly Nicolas Fatio de Duillier • Nicolas was impressed by Newton's gravitational theory. In 1691, he planned to prepare a new version of Newton's PhilosophiaeNaturalis Principia Mathematica, but never finished it. • In 1694, their relationship diminished. At this time, several letter exchanges with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz also took place.

7. Power vs. Education • Throughout this time period, power was more important than education to some , however Isaac Newton felt his education was also a priority. That did not mean he did not want or enjoy power in society • During his London years Newton enjoyed power and worldly success. His position at the Mint assured a comfortable social and economic status, and he was an active and able administrator. • After the death of Hooke in 1703, Newton was elected president of the Royal Society and was annually re-elected until his death. In 1704 he published his second major work, the Opticks, based largely on work completed decades before.

8. Greatest Discovery • The Principia. Newton's masterpiece is divided into three books. Book I of the Principia begins with eight definitions and three axioms, the latter now known as Newton's laws of motion. No discussion of Newton would be complete without them: (1) Every body continues in its state of rest, or uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it (inertia). (2) The change in motion is proportional to the motive force impressed and is made in the direction of the straight line in which that force is impressed (F = ma). (3) To every action there is always an opposed and equal reaction. Following these axioms, Newton proceeds step by step with propositions, theorems, and problems.

9. Other Accomplishments • Devised many solutions to contemporary problems in analytical geometry • Invented Calculus • Elected Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge to the Convention Parliament of 1689 • Wrote Opticks in 1692 • Became Mater of the Royal Mint in 1699 • Became President of the Royal Society of London in 1703 and remained President until his death • Knighted in 1705

10. Opposition • His opposition was mostly for his theories of coloured light • The roots of these unconventional ideas were with Newton by about 1668; when first expressed (tersely and partially) in public in 1672 and 1675, they provoked hostile criticism, mainly because colours were thought to be modified forms of homogeneous white light. • Doubts, and Newton's rejoinders, were printed in the learned journals. Notably, the scepticism of Christiaan Huygens and the failure of the French physicist EdméMariotte to duplicate Newton's refraction experiments in 1681 set scientists on the Continent against him for a generation.

11. Opposition • The publication of Opticks, largely written by 1692, was delayed by Newton until the critics were dead. The book was still imperfect: the colours of diffraction defeated Newton. Nevertheless, Opticks established itself, from about 1715, as a model of the interweaving of theory with quantitative experimentation.

12. His Death • Isaac Newton died on March 31st 1727 in London England • He was buried in Westminster Abbey • Many say he died of an illness, most likely kidney stones, but because he died in his sleep, people are unsure

13. Multiple Choice Questions What University Did Isaac Newton Study and Teach At? • A: Trinity College • B: Oxford University • C: St. Andrew’s College • D: Cambridge University • E: University of Manchester

14. Multiple Choice Questions Who was Isaac Newton Influenced By? • A: Galileo • B: Nicolas Fatio de Duillier • C: Johannes Kapler • D: Tycho Brahe • E: Niels Bohr

15. Multiple Choice Questions Which Of The Following is Not One of The Three Laws of Motion? • A: For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action. • B: An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. • C: The trajectory of a point mass in a gravitational field depends only on its initial position and velocity, and is independent of its composition. • D: Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass.