Isaac Newton, a most influential theorist in the history of science

The great astronomer Galileo died in 1642. Isaac Newton was born the same year, on Christmas Day, according to the old-style (Julian) calendar of the time. And unlike the short lives of most people in those days, Isaac Newton lived to be 84 years old, dying in 1727.

His father died several months before he was born. His early life was difficult, and affected him for the rest of his days. During his first few weeks of life he almost died. His mother abandoned him, leaving him to be raised to the age of 10 by his grandparents. He managed to go on to become one of the world’s greatest philosophers and scientists.

His early days of education didn’t amount to much, and he gave farming a try while a young man, following in his father’s footsteps. It was clear, however, that he was cut out more for the life of the mind, and his family sent him to study at Cambridge University. He finally became interested in science and he led a wonderful life studying, creating, teaching and dreaming up ideas.

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In 1661 he went to Cambridge, where he became interested in mathematics, optics, physics and astronomy. In 1665 he began to think about gravity, and he also devoted time to his other favorites, optics and mathematics, and he worked out his ideas about what he called “fluxions� or calculus.

In 1667 he became a fellow in the Trinity College in Cambridge. Two years later he was appointed a professor of mathematics. But it was Newton’s construction of the reflecting telescope, made in 1668, that really brought him to the attention of the scientific community, and four years later he became a fellow of the Royal Society. By this time he was showing his genius in a variety of fields.

During the early days of his exploration of physics he created the most important mathematical system, known as differential and integral calculus. He kept it secret for several years, as he did   with some of his other creations, but finally made it available to scientists. Then, the German mathematician, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, challenged Newton and claimed that he, not Newton, was the first to create calculus. While Newton was the first to make calculus available, Leibniz had been working on it for some time and was the first to publish his independent results on calculus. Their fight continued until Leibniz died. Let’s give them both credit. They deserve it.

One of the best-known stories about Newton had to do with his sitting next to a tree and then seeing an apple fall to the ground. He quickly concluded that there was a force of gravity that pulled the fruit to the ground. This was the beginning of his theory about gravity and how it existed in outer space, affecting the movement of stars and planets.

Newton opened up the doors of gravity to the rest of the scientists and the world. He decided that the Galileo telescope was not good enough and he created the reflector telescope, which has long been the major one used by NASA and others. Astronomy was one of his prime studies. He combined astronomy and gravity and showed how the stars move around each other, collide and explode at times.

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He also published “The Opticks,� which dealt with light and color. He continued to publish works, some on history, theology and alchemy. But with the support of his friend, astronomer Edmond Halley, he published what was considered one of his single greatest works, “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.� In it he showed how a universal force called gravity applied to all objects in all parts of the universe. Isaac Newton was really a creator of the tremendously important principle and philosophy of gravity.

His most famous statement about gravity was this: “All matter attracts all other matter with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square root of the distance between them.â€�  And in his book, “Principia,â€� classified by scientists all over the world as the greatest scientific book ever written, he describes his theory and his conclusions carefully and accurately.

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Newton’s life was a combination of difficult days and magnificent days. He was often involved in bitter arguments with other scientists about his discoveries and conclusions, but he always seemed to prove that he was right. And by the early 1700s he was the dominant person in British and European science. In 1703 Isaac Newton was elected president of the Royal Academy in England, and he was re-elected each year until his death. Then, in 1705, Newton was knighted by Queen Anne, the first scientist to be so honored as a result of his work.

It is interesting to me that although Newton’s father owned property and animals that made him wealthy, he was completely uneducated and could not even sign his own name. Isaac Newton was quite different, a phenomenal change from the previous generation.

Michael Fowler, professor of physics at the University of Virginia, suggests on the school’s Web site the following books on Isaac Newton for anyone with further interest: “The Life of Isaac Newton,� by Richard Westfall, Cambridge 1993, and “Let Newton Be!,� edited by John Fauvel and others, Oxford 1988.

Sidney X. Shore is a scientist, inventor and educator who lives in Sharon and holds more than 30 U.S. patents.