Isaac Newton Research Paper

Born on January 4, 1643, Isaac Newton is known as one of the greatest minds of the 17th century Scientific Revolution. He was born to his mother who did not want him and whose father had died before he was even born. He lived with his maternal grandmother until age 12 when he was reunited with his mother. Newton was pulled out of school to become a farmer which he disliked and was later sent back to King’s School to finish his basic education. Newton enrolled in a work study program in 1661 at Cambridge University where he took care of the wealthier student’s rooms and waited tables.

The Scientific Revolution was already in full swing when Newton arrived at the University. During his first 3 years he was taught the standard curriculum but took an interest in

the more advanced sciences. He read the works of modern philosophers and kept a set of notes called "Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae" ("Certain Philosophical Questions"). This revealed that Newton had discovered the new concept of nature that provided the framework for the Scientific Revolution. Even though Newton graduated with no honors, his efforts won him the title scholar and four years of financial support to expand his education (Sir Isaac Newton. (2014).
At the age of 26 Newton became the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. As a teacher Newton did not leave a big mark mainly because there were few that went to hear him and even fewer that understood him. In 1701 he resigned from the professorship and was later elected President of the Royal Society. Newton also ran (unsuccessfully) for parliament in 1705 but was knighted by Queen Anne for his efforts (V. Frederick Rickey). According to Rickey “His creative scientific life essentially ended when he left Cambridge” (p. 364).
Newton’s contributions to math include works in calculus, algebra and number theory, classic and analytic geometry, finite differences, the classification of curves, methods of computation and approximation, and even probability. Works of Schooten, Descartes, and Wallis awoken Newton’s mathematical genius and introduced him to many new concepts. These were the greatest influences on Newton in two major areas: calculus, and analytic geometry and algebra. The Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica is an exposition on his own principles and innovations in mathematics. The purpose of Book I of Principia was to develop the subject of general dynamics from a mathematical point of view ("Newton, Isaac." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008.)
Book II and III of the Principia deal with solving astronomical and physical problems. In book I Newton was developing certain mathematical principles so that he could apply them later on to the experiments and observations in book III. The Principia is often described as a “synthesis” of Kepler’s three laws of motion and Galileo’s laws of falling bodies and projectile motion; but instead it actually denies the validity of both of these laws unless modified.
‘Everybody continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.’ (Sir Isaac Newton, 1687)
Professor Bernard Cohen of Harvard University (2014) concludes “Newton’s Principia is generally reckoned to be the single most important scientific book ever written and published.” Newton knew that his ideas were open to criticism and expected unfavorable reactions.

("Newton, Isaac." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008; Sir Isaac Newton. (2014.)

Newton also had many Optical discoveries which are contained in his principal work Opticks, or a treatise on the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions, and Colours of Light. Newton presented his work to the Royal Society and they were glad to publish it. Newton’s only other optical work was his Lectiones Opticoe which deals with many different subjects in optics such as the different refrangibility of light rays, refractions, colours, light transmitted through prisms, how the eye receives light, and on the rainbow. He read these to his students while still a Lucasian Professor at Cambridge. This work was not published until after his death. (Sir David Brewster,

1855.)
By the end of his life Newton had become famous throughout Europe while his discoveries were unquestioned. In his later years a combination of pride, insecurity and side trips on certain scientific inquiries led his few friends and family to worry about his mental stability. Newton died on March 31, 1727 at the age of 85. There were many discoveries made during his time but his universal principals of gravity were second to none at the time. As time went on and new technology developed some of Newton’s principles were proved to be incorrect. In the 20th century Albert Einstein would prove Newton’s concept of the universe wrong by stating that space, distance, and motion were not absolute but relative. In his later life when asked for an assessment of his achievements he replied, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." (Sir Isaac Newton. (2014.))