Isaac Newton

Learn about Isaac Newton (1643–1727) - English scientist, mathematician and astronomer, now widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time. In his three famous books, known as the ‘Principia’, he outlined his theory of gravity, his laws of motion, and a new type of maths called calculus. He is also famous for his work on light and colour, and for inventing the reflecting telescope.

Fun Facts

• Isaac was inspired to form his theory of gravity when he saw an apple fall from a tree on his family farm. He wondered why it fell down and not up or across. Although stories abound, the apple didn’t actually fall on Isaac’s head!
• Isaac was friends with the astronomer Edmond Halley (best known for working out the orbit of Halley’s Comet). Edmond paid for the ‘Principia’ to be published.
• When Tim Peake spent six months working on the International Space Station in 2015/16, the mission was called ‘Principia’ after Isaac’s famous books on gravity.

Favourite Isaac Newton Quotes

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

“To myself I seem to have been only like a boy… finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

A Short Biography of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He never knew his father (also called Isaac Newton), who had died three months earlier. When Isaac was three, his mother remarried and Isaac went to live with his grandparents.

Isaac had a lonely childhood, and in his adult life preferred to live alone. He never married. During his teenage years, his went to The King’s School, Grantham. His mother hoped he’d become a farmer like his father, but he preferred to study and make sundials in his spare time!

At 18, Isaac went to Cambridge University. His mother refused to fund his education, so he worked as a servant alongside his studies, to get by. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1665.

During the Great Plague (1665–1667), Cambridge University closed temporarily as a precaution. Isaac went home and during those two years, studied maths, physics, optics and astronomy. He read many books but was also inspired by the world around him.

In 1669, Isaac was appointed professor of mathematics at Cambridge University. He worked there for over 30 years, and during this time published the ‘Principia’ (1687). The three books took him two years to write but over 20 years to research.

Isaac’s theory of gravity explained the pulling force that keeps your feet on the ground and the planets in orbit around the Sun. Isaac suggested that two objects are attracted to each another and that the greater the mass of each object, the greater the pull (or attraction).

Isaac’s three laws of motion explained the movement of objects around us. Isaac said that an object keeps moving in the same direction unless a force makes it change direction or speed; that the greater the mass of the object, the bigger the force needed to move it; and that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Isaac’s legacy lives on in physics today – forces are measured in ‘Newtons’, for example.

Isaac also outlined a new type of mathematics called calculus, which is commonly used in engineering to describe the rate at which things change. Isaac was known for his bad temper and had a longstanding feud with Leibniz, a philosopher and mathematician, about who invented calculus. Today, it is widely accepted that both men arrived at their conclusions independently.

Isaac was also interested in light and colour. He discovered that when white light shines through a prism it splits into a range of colours, and he invented the reflecting telescope (using mirrors instead of lenses to create a smaller, more powerful design).

Isaac became president of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific institution, and was elected to represent Cambridge University as a member of parliament. He spent the last 30 years of his life in London, where he also became Master of the Royal Mint (a company that produces the UK’s coinage) and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 for his contributions to science.

Isaac died in his sleep in 1727, aged 84. He was the first scientist to be buried at Westminster Abbey, in recognition of a life’s work that had changed our understanding of the world forever.

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