Sir Isaac Newton

The man who proved the theory of gravity

Personality

Isaac Newton may have been a great part of science but he was also a very peculiar person.Upon waking up sometimes he would sit for hours, immobilized by the rush of thoughts to his head.He built his own laboratory where he conducted numerous bizzare experiments. Once he inserted a bodkin into his eye socket, as near to the back as he could, and rubbed: just to see what would happen! Miraculously, there was no lasting damage caused.

Personality

On another occasion, he stared at the sun for as long as he could handle, to find out what effect it would have on his vision. This was another event that luckily didn’t do much damage but he did have to spend a few days in a dark room before his eyes forgave him.

Philosophy

Newton may have made many historical scientific discoveries but he also spent a lot of his time studying alchemy (turning base metals into precious ones.)

Religion

Newton belonged to a sect called Arianism who’s main belief was that there was no holy trinity.

The universal law of gravity

This law states that every object in the universe exerts a pull on every other object. In other words even though we can’t feel it we are pulling everything towards us with our gravitational field. This explains Earth’s pull on us, also known as gravity.

The three laws of motion

Another one of Newton’s discoveries was the three laws of motion. The laws go as follows1. A object moves in the direction in which it’s

pushed.2. It will keep moving in a straight line until

some other force acts on it.3. Every action has an oppisite and equal

reaction.

Inspiration

Isaac Newton biggest discovery was the universial law of gravity, he has said to have been inspired by his observations of an apple falling from a tree.

Publication

Though Newton had very brilliant ideas he often didn’t publish them until years later, for instance he invented a whole new form of the calculus but then he didn’t tell anyone for twenty-seven years. He also worked in optics that changed our understanding of light and made the base of spectroscopy, and like the first incident he did not share the result for three decades.

Publication

When Newton met Halley in 1684. Halley persuaded Newton to publish his masterwork the Principia which included his greatest discoveries.

Conclusion

Newton was a peculiar man who made groundbreaking discoveries. He gave a massive contribution to science

Source: Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything