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1-Page Summary of Isaac Newton

Overview

Isaac Newton is one of the most famous scientists in history. However, many myths have been told about him that are not true. One story has to do with his dog setting fire to his lab and another tells how an apple fell on his head leading him to discover gravity.

But Newton is more than a story. His theories and discoveries are still relevant today. Even in school, we learn about his theories of motion when we study physics. But Newton was a fascinating character himself, living at the same time as other great minds like Galileo and Copernicus (who also had their own ideas). It was an interesting era to live in – it seemed that science could explain everything around us but even Newton wasn’t immune to mysticism and superstition.

His theories were very controversial, and he faced a lot of resistance.

In this article, you’ll discover how Newton’s economic policies helped stabilize Britain; which scientist accused Newton of plagiarizing calculus; and how Newton almost blinded himself for science.

Big Idea #1: Isaac Newton was born into chaos, and his curiosity was apparent from the first.

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, 1642 in a small English farm. His father died before he was born and his mother remarried when he was three years old.

England in the 1640s was a chaotic time. The English Civil War was going on, with Royalists supporting the king while Parliamentarians challenged his despotic tendencies and belief that he had divine rights to rule. People believed in alchemy, magic, occultism and mysticism at this time. When people spoke of gravity they were referring to their bearing not the force of nature as we know it today.

Sir Isaac Newton was born in England. His curiosity led him to ask questions about the world that no one had asked before. He wondered why objects fell at a certain rate, and he wanted to figure out what made things move. In school, he learned about geometry and how to measure land with surveying techniques. That knowledge helped him create watermills and windmills that powered his home when he grew up.

Newton was a teenager who had been raised on a farm. He enjoyed his life there, but he felt like something was missing. His family and friends thought that Newton should stay on the farm and do little more than tend to sheep, but Newton knew that wasn’t what he wanted.

Big Idea #2: Newton excelled at Cambridge University, but even more so in isolation.

Newton was accepted into Trinity College because of the help from his uncle and a respected schoolmaster. He went to Cambridge University in 1661, where he attended one of its best colleges.

Newton was a driven man who focused on studying. He needed very little: just his new notebook, some candles and ink, and a chamber pot. His curious mind did the rest of the work for him. The works of Aristotle formed the basis of Newton’s curriculum, especially Aristotle’s theories about substances, form, time and motion. However, more modern scientific ideas were not ignored; one example is that of Galileo’s theory about motion before Newton arrived at Cambridge University in 1661 (Galileo had died in 1642).

The ancient Greeks believed that everything was in motion. They thought of a stone being sculpted into a statue as it being in motion, just like an apple decaying from the inside out is also considered to be in motion.

Newton argued that motion should be a state, not a process.

Science was changing, too. Previously, geometry and observation were not used in the study of nature’s laws. However, during Newton’s time, empirical research became more common. For example, accurate clocks were becoming available—this made it possible to measure time more easily and therefore conduct experiments based on time more rigorously.