Newton Isaac

Newton was born of wealthy farmers parents on December 25, 1642 (according to the Julian calendar, which was still in use in England), or on January 4, 1643, of the Gregorian calendar. He studied for seven years at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his mathematical gifts were noticed, then he perfected in mathematics and optics. In 1669 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Cambridge and three years later entered the Royal Society of London. He presented his invention of the reflecting telescope and other optical work, which were much commented on. They are recorded in his book Opticks, published in 1704, of which the experimental part is particularly admirable. His major work, the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), was published in Latin in 1687 at the expense of Edmond Halley, who had a great admiration for him. One of the most important books on physics ever written, it contains the principles of rational mechanics and of gravitation and the explanation of the motion of planets and comets. Doing so, Newton invented infinitesimal calculus in parallel with Leibniz. Newton also worked extensively in alchemy until an explosion in his laboratory in 1696. He then resigned from his teaching position to become a kind of finance minister of the kingdom, an area in which he excelled. In parallel, he conducted various scientific works and was elected president of the Royal Society, a position he held until his death on March 31, 1727, of the Gregorian calendar. Without doubt a great scholar, Newton was also a difficult person, and reluctant to make his work known to the general public. He often presented it in a deliberately obscure way, so its significance was only recognized gradually.