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ISAAC
NEWTON
BIOGRAPHY
950L
ISAAC
NEWTON
PHYSICS, GRAVITY
& LAWS OF MOTION
Born
January 4, 1643
Lincolnshire, England
Died
March 31, 1727
London, England
By Cynthia Stokes Brown, adapted by Newsela
Sir Isaac Newton
developed the three basic
laws of motion and the
theory of universal gravity,
which together laid
the foundation for our
current understanding of
physics and the Universe.
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Isaac Newton was born prematurely on January 4, 1643. He grew up with
his grandparents on a farm after his father died and his mother moved away.
As a child he had few playmates. He amused himself by thinking about the
world around him. At school, Newton didn’t play much with the other boys.
Instead, he made wooden models, kites, sundials, and even a water clock.
When he was 15, his mother took him out of school to become a farmer.
But the director of his school recognized the boy’s talents and convinced his
mother to let him return to school.
Newton went Cambridge University from 1661 to 1665. The university
temporarily closed soon after he got his degree because people in European
cities were dying from the plague.
Early discoveries
Newton moved back to his grandparents’ farm for two years. During this
time, he proved that “white” light was composed of all colors and started to
figure out calculus and universal gravitation. He did all this before he was
24 years old.
Newton was on his grandparents’ farm when he sat under the famous
apple tree and watched an apple fall to the ground.
He wondered if the force that pulled the apple to the ground could extend
out to the Moon and keep it in its orbit around Earth. Perhaps that force
extended throughout the whole Universe.
After the plague abated, Newton returned to Cambridge. He earned his
master’s degree and became a professor of mathematics there.
His lectures bored many of his students, but he continued his own thinking
and experiments. Later, he became the president of the Royal Society of
London for Improving Natural Knowledge — the top organization of scientists
in England.
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Laws of motion and gravity
Newton’s three Laws of Motion
Newton’s most important book was written in Latin; its English title was
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and was published in 1687.
01
An object at rest will stay at rest unless a force is applied to
it. An object in motion will stay in motion along a straight line
unless an external force is applied to it.
It proved to be one of the most influential works in the history of science.
The book explained Newton’s three Laws of Motion and the Law of Universal
Gravitation.
02
An object will accelerate if force is applied to it. The acceleration will happen in the direction of the force. The acceleration
will be less as the object gets bigger.
Newton used advanced math and observation of the heavens to develop
his laws. To track the stars and planets, he used a new type of telescope
that he designed and built himself.
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For every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.
Putting these laws together, Newton was able to state the Law of Universal
Gravitation: the gravitational pull between two objects decreases as the
objects get farther apart.
Newton’s Universe was a powerful idea because it said that all objects move
according to rational principles.
Everything, from apples to planets, obeys the same unchanging laws. By
combining physics, mathematics, and astronomy, Newton made a giant leap
in human understanding of Earth and the cosmos.
Calculus
Newton came up with a new mathematical method for dealing with changing
quantities. It is now called calculus. Newton didn’t publish his method, he
used it to solve problems.
Later, the German scientist Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz also worked out
calculus. His system was easier to use.
Newton accused Leibniz of stealing his ideas, but historians now believe
that each invented calculus independently.
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Timeline of Newton’s life
1654–1661
Attends King’s
School at Grantham
1687
Publication of
Mathematical Principles
of Natural Philosophy
1661–1665
Attends
Cambridge
University
1665–1666
Retreats to Woolsthorpe Manor;
plague and fire in London
1696
Moves to London
as Warden of the
Mint, later Master
of the Mint
1666–1668
Graduate studies at Cambridge
1643
Born on January 4 at
Woolsthorpe Manor
in Lincolnshire, England
1640
1669
Professor of Mathematics
at Cambridge (the
prestigious Lucasian Chair)
1650
1651
Coffee,
chocolate,
and tea
reach London
1645
Blaise Pascal invents the
first mechanical calculator
During the time of Newton
1660
1670
1666
Académie des Sciences founded
in France by Louis XIV
1661
First bus line
(horse-drawn)
in Paris
1664
England seizes New Amsterdam from
the Dutch, renaming it New York
1662
Royal Society for Improving Natural
Knowledge founded in London
1658
Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb begins a 49-year rule of India
1689
Represents Cambridge
University in the
parliament that passes
the Bill of Rights,
limiting the powers
of William III and Mary II
1680
1680
Dutch biologist Antonie
Van Leeuwenhoek uses
a microscope to view
one-celled animals
1690
Newton was made a knight by Queen Anne in 1705. At his death in 1727, he
was buried in London’s Westminster Abbey. Shortly before he died, Newton
remarked:
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now
and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the
great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
1703
Assumes the presidency of the
Royal Society until his death
1727
Dies on March 31
in London
1704
Publication of Opticks
1705
Knighted by Queen Anne
1700
1710
1720
1704
English philosopher John Locke
dies in Essex, England
1699
Ottoman Empire ceases
its threat to Europe
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Sources
Christianson, Gale E. Isaac Newton.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Wills, John E. Jr. 1688: A Global History.
New York and London: W. W. Norton, 2001.
Image credits
Portrait of Isaac Newton
© CORBIS
Isaac Newton performing an experiment
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Illustration from The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
by Isaac Newton © CORBIS
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