Isaac Newton 1642 - 1727
Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit.
Physicists Gravitation Newton's Telescope  Newton's Cradle

True or False quiz about Isaac Newton
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Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day , 1642, in the middle of the English Civil War. Interestingly Stephen Hawking , who was also to become Lucasian Professor at Cambridge and develop further the theory of gravitation, was born in 1942, exactly 300 years later in the middle of World War II. (Omnes et me plangite.)
Isaac was a very keen reader and went up to Cambridge University at the age of 19. The University was closed during the years of 1665-7 on account of the plague and so Isaac had to study at home. Here he conducted his famous experiments concerning optics. He investigated the visible spectrum in 1666 and invented the reflecting telescope in 1669, which he used to observe the motions of the Moon and planets.
His law of gravity was formulated in 1685 and his three laws of motion were formalised in 1687.

The laws of motion are:
 
1st Law
A body remains at rest or in a uniform state of linear motion unless acted upon by an external force.
2nd Law
The rate of change of momentum is proportional to the magnitude of the external force that
acts upon it.
3rd Law
For every impulse on a body , the body exerts an equal and opposite impulse.
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Armed with his theoretical knowledge Isaac was in a position to quantify many physical systems both small and large. The familiar 'toy' - Newton's Cradle may be analysed using his third law and the solar system may be analysed using his Law of Gravitation and Second Law of Motion. See for example 'Weighing the Planets'. Until the beginning of the twentieth century it was thought that the dynamics of all systems could be analysed using Newtonian Mechanics but the very small (sub atomic) are now known to require Quantum Mechanics for analysis. The very fast require Relativistic Mechanics and intense gravitational fields require the equations of General Relativity.

In addition to his achievements in the Natural Sciences, Isaac is credited with inventing the Calculus (although many accredit this to Leibniz) which he termed 'Fluxions' and was deeply interested in mysticism and the occult. If accounts are to be believed , Isaac was an insecure and arrogant man. He suffered nervous breakdowns and often rowed with other scientists including Robert Hooke.

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