Sir Isaac Newton Biography Essay Example

Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who helped to form our view of the Universe with his many discoveries. 

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was born in Woolsthorpe Manor to a family of farmers. His father, also named Isaac Newton, passed away three months before he was born. His father was a wealthy man due to the animals he owned. In spite of his wealth, Isaac’s father was uneducated. When Isaac was two years old, his mother, Hannah Asycough, remarried to Barnabas Smith, a church minister at a nearby village. His mother left him with his grandmother, Margery Ayscough, where he had an unhappy childhood. His grandfather, James Asycough, did not show any love for him. Consequently, Isaac had a hatred towards his mother and stepfather. When his stepfather passed away in 1653, Newton lived with his mother, grandmother, half-brother, and his two half-sisters. Newton attended the Free Grammar School in Grantham. Although he lived near the school, Newton was sent to live with the Clark family at Grantham. After showing no attentiveness in school, Newton’s mother pulled him out of school to manage her affairs and her estate. However, he had no talent or interest in managing an estate. Newton’s uncle, William Asycough, convinced Hannah Asycough that Newton should prepare for university. Therefore, she sent him back to Free Grammar School in Grantham in 1660. This time, Newton stayed with Stokes, the school’s headmaster, and received private coaching from him to prepare for university. In 1661, Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied there for four years. On April 28, 1664, Newton was elected a scholar. In April 1665, he received his bachelor's degree. Unfortunately, the plague closed the university in 1665 and Newton had to return to Lincolnshire. There, he made many revolutionary discoveries in mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy.

In the 1660s Newton experimented with light and discovered the color spectrum. In his experiments, he put a glass prism in front of a ray of light projected through a hole in his window shade. The ray of light spread out from the prism into colored bands of light. He named this the color spectrum. In the mid to late 1660s, Newton largely contributed to the area of mathematics by inventing calculus. In 1668, Newton invented his telescope, the Newtonian reflector. After discovering that a ray of light spreads out from a prism into colored bands of light, Newton discovered that the same thing occurs in a lens. Since telescopes use lenses, they have chromatic aberration. To get rid of the chromatic aberration, Newton used a mirror instead of a lens in his telescope. In 1687, Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation. The law of universal gravitation, gravity, states that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with force proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Additionally, gravity is used to explain how the planets move with their moons. In 1687, Newton made the Laws of Motion. Newton’s 1st law of motion states that an object in motion/at rest stays in motion/at rest until acted upon by an outside force. An example of Newton’s 1st law is a coin spinning on a table. The coin will not stop spinning until acted upon by an outside force, like friction. Newton’s 2nd law of motion states that acceleration depends on mass and applied force. An example of Newton’s 2nd law is riding a bike. The acceleration of the bike depends on the amount of force the person on the bike uses and the mass of the bike. Newton’s 3rd law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. An example of Newton’s 3rd law is a person jumping. The person applies a force to the ground. The ground applies an equal and opposite reaction, sending the person into the air. In 1705, Newton was knighted by Queen Anne for his political work. Newton has many published works that explain his theories, principles, and discoveries. 

Newton has published many articles and books. In 1687, he published Newton’s Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The book is about the principles of time, force, and motion. In 1704, Newton published Opticks. The book is about Newton’s experiments with spectroscopy, colors, lenses, reflection, refraction, and more. In 1733, Newton published Observations Upon Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John. The book is about Newton’s interpretation of the prophecies in the Biblical books of Daniel and the Revelation of John. 

Unfortunately, Newton passed away on March 31, 1727 in London, England. He will always be remembered for his many great discoveries in the fields of mathematics and science that shaped our view of the universe.