Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton at 46 in Godfrey Kneller's 1689 portrait.
Born
4 January [O.S. 25 December 1642] 1643 Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England
Died
31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727 Kensington, London

Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January [O.S. 25 December 1642] 1643 – 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most important, accomplished, and influential scientists in history.

Newton wrote Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, wherein he described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion. He thus laid the groundwork for classical mechanics, also known as Newtonian mechanics, which held sway in the physical sciences until the advent of quantum mechanics around the beginning of the twentieth century. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from this system, he was the first to show that the motions of bodies on Earth and celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. The unifying and predictive power of his laws was integral to the scientific revolution and the advancement of heliocentrism.

Among other scientific discoveries, Newton realized that the spectrum of colors observed when white light passes through a prism is inherent in the white light and not added by the prism (as Roger Bacon had claimed in the thirteenth century), and notably argued that light is composed of particles. He also developed a law of cooling, describing the rate of cooling of objects when exposed to air. He enunciated the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum. Finally, he studied the speed of sound in air and voiced a theory of the origin of stars.

Newton shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for the development of calculus, which he used to formulate his physical laws. (Differential calculus, however, was conceived centuries earlier in India by Bhaskara and the Kerala School.) He also made contributions to other areas of mathematics, having derived the binomial theorem in its entirety. The mathematician and mathematical physicist Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) said that "Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish." ²⁰

In addition to his monumental work in mathematics and science, Newton was an active religious believer, a Christian, although a somewhat unorthodox and non-trinitarian one. He thought that his scientific investigations were bringing to light the Creator and the principles that the Creator used in ordering the physical universe. He claimed to study the Bible every day, and he wrote more on religion than he did on science. Those who think there is no necessary or unbridgeable chasm between science and religion frequently point to Newton as offering the strongest evidence for their view.

Biography

Early years

Newton was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth (at Woolsthorpe Manor), a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. As he was born prematurely, no one expected him to live. His mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, is reported to have said that his body at that time could have fit inside a quart mug (Bell, 1937). His father, Isaac, had died three months before Newton's birth. When Newton was two, his mother went to live with her new husband, leaving her son in the care of his grandmother.

Engraving after Enoch Seeman's 1726 portrait of Newton

After beginning his education at village schools, Newton attended the King's School in Grantham (Grantham Grammar School) from the age of 12. His signature is still preserved on a windowsill at Grantham. By October 1659, he had been removed from school and brought back to Woolsthorpe, where his mother attempted to make a farmer of him. Later reports of his contemporaries indicate that he was thoroughly unhappy with the work. It appears that Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, persuaded Newton's mother to send him back to school to complete his education. This he did at age 18, achieving an admirable final report. His teacher's praise was effusive:

His genius now begins to mount upwards apace and shine out with more strength. He excels particularly in making verses. In everything he undertakes, he discovers an application equal to the pregnancy of his parts and exceeds even the most sanguine expectations I have conceived of him.

In June 1661, he matriculated to Trinity College, Cambridge. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as Descartes and astronomers such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Kepler. In 1665, he discovered the binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become calculus. A manuscript of his, dated May 28, 1665, is the earliest evidence of his invention of fluxions (derivatives in differential calculus). Soon after Newton obtained his degree in 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the Great Plague. For the next 18 months, Newton worked at home on calculus, optics, and a theory of gravitation.

The only account of a romantic relationship in Newton's life is connected to his time at Grantham. According to Eric Temple Bell (1937, Simon and Schuster) and H. Eves:

At Grantham, he lodged with the local apothecary, William Clarke, and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storer, before going off to Cambridge University at age 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storer married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded "sweethearts" and never married. ²²

Middle years

Mathematical research

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A lock of Newton's hair in Trinity College, Cambridge.

Newton became a fellow of Trinity College in 1669. In the same year, he circulated his findings in De Analysi per Aequationes Numeri Terminorum Infinitas (On Analysis by Infinite Series), and later in De methodis serierum et fluxionum (On the Methods of Series and Fluxions), whose title gave rise to the "method of fluxions".

Newton is generally credited with the binomial theorem, an essential step toward the development of modern analysis. It is now also recognized that Newton and Leibniz developed the calculus independently of each other, but for years a bitter dispute raged over who was to be given priority and whether Leibniz had stolen from Newton (see below).

Newton made substantial contributions toward our understanding of polynomials (such as the discovery of "Newton's identities") and the theory of finite differences. He discovered "Newton's methods" (a root-finding algorithm) and new formulae for the value of pi. He was the first to use fractional indices, to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions to diophantine equations, and to use power series with confidence and to revert power series. He also approximated partial sums of harmonic series by logarithms (a precursor to Euler's summation formula).

He was elected Lucasian professor of mathematics in 1669. At that time, any fellow of Cambridge or Oxford had to be an ordained Anglican priest. The terms of the Lucasian professorship, however, required that the holder not be active in the church (presumably to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted.

In honor of Newton's contributions to mathematics, the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences was opened at Cambridge University in July 1992. The Institute is regarded as the United Kingdom's national institute for mathematical research.

The dispute over who first developed the calculus

As with most mathematical discoveries, the calculus was the culmination of years of work by many different people, but the two contributors who did most in this regard were Newton and Leibniz. The two men worked independently and used different notations. Although Newton worked out his method some years before Leibniz, he published almost nothing about it until 1687 and did not give a full account until 1704. Newton did, however, correspond extensively with Leibniz. Meanwhile, Leibniz discovered his version of calculus in Paris between 1673 and 1676. He published his first account of differential calculus in 1684 and integral calculus in 1686.

It appears that Newton went further in exploring the applications of calculus; moreover, his focus was on limits and concrete reality, while that of Leibniz was on the infinite and abstract. Leibniz's notation and "differential method" were universally adopted on the Continent, and after 1820 or so, in the British Empire. Newton claimed he had been reluctant to publish his work on the subject because he feared being mocked for it. Today, credit is given to both men, but there was a period when a nasty controversy pitted English mathematicians against those on the European continent, over who should be regarded as the originator of calculus.

Starting in 1699, some members of the Royal Society accused Leibniz of plagiarism, especially because letters of correspondence between Newton and Leibniz often discussed mathematics. The dispute broke out in full force in 1711. Thus began the bitter calculus priority dispute, which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716, and continued for about a hundred years more. In 1715, just a year before Leibniz's death, the British Royal Society handed down its verdict, crediting Newton with the discovery of the calculus and concluding that Leibniz was guilty of plagiarism. Newton and his associates even tried to get ambassadors in the diplomatic corps in London to review old letters and papers in the hope of gaining support for the Royal Society's findings. It later became known that these accusations were false, but Leibniz had already died.

This dispute, although it centered on questions of plagiarism and priority of discovery of the calculus, also involved issues of national pride and allegiance. In fact, England did not finally agree to recognize the work of mathematicians from other countries until 1820. (For an extended account of this controversy, see "Newton vs. Leibniz; The Calculus Controversy.")

Optics

From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics. During this period, he investigated the refraction of light, demonstrating that a prism could decompose white light into a spectrum of colors, and that a lens and second prism could recompose the multicolored spectrum into white light.

By separating out a colored beam and shining it on various objects, Newton showed that the colored light does not change its properties. He noted that regardless of whether a beam of colored light was reflected, scattered, or transmitted, it stayed the same color. Thus the colors we observe are the result of how objects interact with the incident, already-colored light, not the result of objects generating the color. Many of his findings in this field were criticized by later theorists, the most well-known being Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who postulated his own color theories.

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A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the Royal Society.

From this work, Newton concluded that any refracting telescope would suffer from the dispersion of light into colors, and he therefore invented a reflecting telescope (today known as a Newtonian telescope) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors and using "Newton's rings" to judge the optical quality of his telescope, he was able to produce an instrument superior to the refracting telescope, due primarily to the wider diameter of the mirror. (Only later, as glasses with a variety of refractive properties became available, did achromatic lenses for refractors become feasible.) In 1671, the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. Their interest encouraged him to publish his notes On Colour, which he later expanded into his Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticized some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. The two men remained enemies until Hooke's death.

Newton argued that light is composed of particles, but he had to associate them with waves to explain the diffraction of light (Opticks Bk. II, Props. XII-XX). Later physicists favored a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for diffraction. Today's quantum mechanics restores the idea of "wave-particle duality," according to which light is made up of photons that have characteristics of both waves and particles.

Newton is believed to have been the first to explain precisely the formation of the rainbow from water droplets dispersed in the atmosphere in a rain shower. Figure 15 of Part II of Book One of Opticks shows a perfect illustration of how this occurs.

In his Hypothesis of Light of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the ether to transmit forces between particles. Newton was in contact with Henry More, the Cambridge Platonist, on alchemy, and now his interest in the subject revived. He replaced the ether with occult forces based on Hermetic ideas of attraction and repulsion between particles. In the opinion of John Maynard Keynes, who acquired many of Newton's writings on alchemy, "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."²¹

As Newton lived at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science, his interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science ². Had he not relied on the occult idea of action at a distance, across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity.

In 1704, Newton wrote Opticks, in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. The book is also known for the first exposure of the idea of the interchangeability of mass and energy: "Gross bodies and light are convertible into one another...." Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional electrostatic generator, using a glass globe (Opticks, 8th Query).

Gravity and motion

In 1679, Newton returned to his work on gravitation and its effect on the orbits of planets, with reference to Kepler's laws of motion, and consulting with Hooke and Flamsteed on the subject. He published his results in De Motu Corporum (1684). This contained the beginnings of the laws of motion.

The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (now known as the Principia) was published on July 5, 1687¹, with encouragement and financial help from Edmond Halley. In this work, Newton stated the three universal laws of motion that were not to be improved upon for more than 200 years. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the force that would become known as gravity and defined the law of universal gravitation. In the same work, he presented the first analytical determination, based on Boyle's law, of the speed of sound in air.

With the Principia, Newton became internationally recognized. He acquired a circle of admirers, including the Swiss-born mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, with whom he formed a strong friendship that lasted until 1693. The end of this friendship led Newton to a nervous breakdown.

Newton's concepts of gravity and mechanics, though revised by Einstein's Theory of Relativity, represent an enormous step in the development of human understanding of the universe.

Later life

In the 1690s, Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible. Henry More's belief in the infinity of the universe and rejection of Cartesian dualism may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to John Locke in which he disputed the existence of the Trinity was never published. Later works—The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) and Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733)—were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above)².

Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but his only recorded comments were to complain about a cold draft in the chamber and request that the window be closed.

Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the Exchequer]]. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and finagling Edmond Halley into the job of deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch). Newton became Master of the Mint upon Lucas' death in 1699. These appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously, exercising his power to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters. He retired from his Cambridge duties in 1701. Ironically, it was his work at the Mint, rather than his contributions to science, which earned him a knighthood from Queen Anne in 1705.

Newton's grave in Westminster Abbey.

Newton was made President of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French Académie des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's star catalog.

Newton died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt³, served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London. He was her "very loving Uncle" ⁴, according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox.

In later years there has been some speculation that Newton had Asperger syndrome, a form of autism.

It has also been suggested that Isaac Newton may have died a virgin. There were no known romantic encounters during his lifetime. Also, Newton's prudent character and obsessive manner may have deterred the prospect of sexual encounters.

Religious views

Isaac Newton (Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889)

The law of gravity became Newton's best-known discovery. He warned against using it to view the universe as a mere machine, like a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."Template:Citeneeded

His scientific fame notwithstanding, the Bible was Newton's greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture and Alchemy than to science, and said, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily."Template:Citeneeded Newton himself wrote works on textual criticism, most notably An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture. Newton also placed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at 3 April, AD 33, which is now the accepted traditional date. He also attempted, unsuccessfully, to find hidden messages within the Bible (See Bible code). Despite his focus in theology and alchemy, Newton tested and investigated these myths with the scientific method, observing, hypothesizing, and testing his theories. To Newton, his scientific and religious experiments were one and the same, observing and understanding how the world functioned.

Newton rejected the church's doctrine of the trinity, and was probably a follower of arianism. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that he more likely held the Eastern Orthodox view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and most Protestants ⁷. In his own day, he was also accused of being a Rosicrucian (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II).⁸

In his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He believed in a rationally immanent world, but he rejected the hylozoism implicit in Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed universe could be understood, and must be understood, by an active reason, but this universe, to be perfect and ordained, had to be regular.

Newton's effect on religious thought

Newton, by William Blake

Newton and Robert Boyle’s mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians.⁹ Thus, the clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism¹⁰, and, at the same time, the second wave of English deists used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion."

The attacks made against pre-Enlightenment "magical thinking," and the mystical elements of Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through mathematical proofs, and more importantly was very successful in popularising them.¹¹ Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles.¹² These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed man to pursue his own aims fruitfully in this life, not the next, and to perfect himself with his own rational powers.¹³ The perceived ability of Newtonians to explain the world, both physical and social, through logical calculations alone is the crucial idea in the disenchantment of Christianity.¹⁴

Newton saw God as the master creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation ⁵⁶¹⁴ But the unforeseen theological consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the world’s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in God’s creation, something impossible for a perfect and omnipotent creator.¹⁵ Leibniz's theodicy cleared God from the responsibility for "l'origine du mal" by making God removed from participation in his creation. The understanding of the world was now brought down to the level of simple human reason, and humans, as Odo Marquard argued, became responsible for the correction and elimination of evil.¹⁶

On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the millenarians, a religious faction dedicated to the concept of a mechanical universe, but finding in it the same enthusiasm and mysticism that the Enlightenment had fought so hard to extinguish.¹⁷

Newton and the counterfeiters

As warden of the royal mint, Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during the Great Recoinage were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was treason, punishable by death. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be maddeningly impossible to achieve. Newton, however, proved equal to the task.

He assembled facts and proved his theories with the same brilliance in law that he had shown in science. He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a justice of the peace and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects. He later ordered all records his interrogations to be destroyed.^{[citation needed]} Regardless, Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had 10 prisoners waiting to be executed.

Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner, a rogue with a deviously intelligent mind. Chaloner set up phony conspiracies of Catholics, then turned in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Accusing the mint of providing tools to counterfeiters, he proposed that he be allowed to inspect the mint's processes to find ways to improve them. He petitioned parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited. All the time, he struck false coins—or so Newton eventually proved to a court of competent jurisdiction. On March 23, 1699, Chaloner was hung, drawn and quartered.^{[citation needed]}

Newton and Enlightenment philosophers

Enlightenment philosophers chose a short list of scientific predecessors—mainly Galileo, Boyle, and Newton—as their guides for applying the singular concept of Nature and Natural Law to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded.¹⁹

Newton’s concept of the universe based on natural and rationally understandable laws became seeds for Enlightenment ideology. Locke and Voltaire applied concepts of natural law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the physiocrats and Adam Smith applied natural concepts of psychology and self-interest to economic systems; and sociologists critiqued how the current social order fit history into natural models of progress.

Newton's legacy

Calculus has proved vitally important for the development of science and engineering.

In addition, he unified many isolated physics facts that had been discovered earlier into a satisfying system of laws.

In 1717, the Kingdom of Great Britain went on to an unofficial gold standard when Newton, then Master of the Mint, established a fixed price of £3.17.10 ½d per standard (22 carat) troy ounce, equal to £4.4.11 ½d per fine ounce. Under the gold standard, the value of the pound (measured in gold weight) remained largely constant until the beginning of the 20th century.

Newton is reputed to have invented the cat flap. This was said to be done so that he would not have to disrupt his optical experiments, conducted in a darkened room, to let his cat in or out.

Newtonmas is a holiday celebrated by some scientists as an alternative to Christmas, taking advantage of the fact that Newton's birthday falls on 25 December.

Newton's Three Laws

The famous three laws of Newton are:

1. Newton's First Law (also known as the Law of Inertia) states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by a net external force.
2. Newton's Second Law states that F=ma, or force equals mass times acceleration. In other words, the acceleration produced by a net force on an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force and inversely proportional to the mass. In the MKS system of measurement, mass is given in kilograms, acceleration in meters per second squared, and force in Newtons (named in his honor).
3. Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton's apple

A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, England.

A popular story claims that Newton was inspired to formulate his theory of universal gravitation by the fall of an apple from a tree. Cartoons have gone further to suggest the apple actually hit Newton's head, and that its impact somehow made him aware of the force of gravity. There is no basis to that interpretation, but the story of the apple may have something to it. John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the royal mint and husband of Newton's niece, described the event when he wrote about Newton's life:

In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge ... to his mother in Lincolnshire & while he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from a tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought. Why not as high as the Moon thought he to himself & that if so, that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a-calculating what would be the effect of that superposition... (Keesing, R.G., The History of Newton's apple tree, Contemporary Physics, 39, 377-91, 1998)

The question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the moon to its orbit. Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement. He guessed the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it universal gravitation.

A contemporary writer, William Stukeley, recorded in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726, in which Newton recalled "when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre." In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his Essay on Epic Poetry (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." These accounts are exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home (Woolsthorpe Manor) and watching an apple fall from a tree.

Writings by Newton

• Method of Fluxions (1671)
• De Motu Corporum in Gyrum (1684)
• Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
• Opticks (1704)
• Reports as Master of the Mint (1701-1725)
• Arithmetica Universalis (1707)
• An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1754)
• Short Chronicle, The System of the World, Optical Lectures, Universal Arithmetic, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended and De mundi systemate were published posthumously in 1728.

Notes

• Note 1: The remainder of the dates in this article follow the Gregorian calendar.
• Note 2: Westfall (pp. 530–531) notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches.
• Note 3: Westfall, p. 44.
• Note 4: Westfall, p. 595.
• Note 5: Principia, Book III; cited in; Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings, p. 42, ed. H.S. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, NY, 1953.
• Note 6: A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ibid, p. 65.
• Note 7: Pfizenmaier, T.C., "Was Isaac Newton an Arian?" Journal of the History of Ideas 68(1):57–80, 1997.
• Note 8: Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972.
• Note 8: Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720. p28.
• Note 9: Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720. p37 and p44.
• Note 10: Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. Yale University Press, New Haven: 1958. p200.
• Note 11: Fitzpatrick, Martin. ed. Knud Haakonssen. “The Enlightenment, politics and providence: some Scottish and English comparisons.” Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p64.
• Note 12: Frankel, Charles. The Faith of Reason: The Idea of Progress in the French Enlightenment. King’s Crown Press, New York: 1948. p1.
• Note 13: Germain, Gilbert G. A Discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Politics and Technology. p28.
• Note 14: Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. “The emergence of Rational Dissent.” Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p19.
• Note 15: Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. p201.
• Note 16: Marquard, Odo. "Burdened and Disemburdened Man and the Flight into Unindictability," in Farewell to Matters of Principle. Robert M. Wallace trans. London: Oxford UP, 1989.
• Note 17: Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720. p100-101.
• Note 18: Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689-1720. p61.
• Note 19: Cassels, Alan. Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World. p2.
• Note 20: Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J. L. Lagrange," in Oeuvres de Lagrange, I. Paris, 1867, p. xx. (cited by Fred L. Wilson)
• Note 21: Keynes, John Maynard Essays in Biography, "Newton, The Man" p363-364 The Collected Writtings of John Maynard Keynes, Volume X, MacMillan St. Martin's Press, The Royal Economic Society: 1972.
• Note 22: However, the work of William Stukeley and Mrs. Vincent, the source used by Bell and Eves, merely says that Newton entertained "a passion" for her (Ms. Storer) while he lodged at the Clarke house. Mrs. Vincent's maiden name was Katherine Storer, not Anne.

See also

• History of calculus
• Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy
• "Standing on the shoulders of giants"
• Newton-Cotes formulas
• Gauss-Newton algorithm
• Newton fractal
• Newton polygon

Resources

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bell, Eric Temple (1937). Men of Mathematics. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671464000 Excerpt
• Christianson, Gale (1984). In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton & His Times. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0029051908. This well documented work provides, in particular, valuable information regarding Newton's knowledge of Patristics.
• [1] Interview with James Gleick: "Isaac Newton" (Pantheon). WAMU's The Diane Rehm Show Friday, June 13, 2003 (RealAudio stream) URL accessed on March 8, 2005.
• Sir Isaac Newton School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. URL acessed on March 8, 2005.
• The Newton Project. Imperial College London. URL accessed on March 8, 2005.
• Westfall, Richard S. (1980, 1998). Never at Rest. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521274354.
• Craig, John (1963). "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters," Notes and Records of the Royal Society (18). London: The Royal Society.
• "The Invisible Science." Magical Egypt. Chance Gardner and John Anthony West. 2005.

Further reading

• John Maynard Keynes, Essays in Biography, W W Norton & Co, 1963, paperback, ISBN 039300189X. Keynes had taken a close interest in Newton and owned many of Newton's private papers.
• Isaac Newton, Papers and Letters in Natural Philosophy, edited by I. Bernard Cohen ISBN 0-674-46853-8 Harvard 1958,1978
• Michael H. Hart, The 100, Carol Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0806513500
• Simmons, J, The giant book of scientists — The 100 greatest minds of all time, Sydney: The Book Company, (1996)
• Isaac Newton (1642-1727), The Principia: a new Translation, Guide by I. Bernard Cohen ISBN 0-520-08817-4 University of California 1999 Warning: common mistranslations exposed!
• Berlinski, David, Newton's Gift:How Sir Isaac Newton Unlocked the System of our World, ISBN 0684843927 (hardback), also in paperback, Simon & Schuster, 2000
• Stephen Hawking, ed. On the Shoulders of Giants, ISBN 0-7624-1348-5 Places selections from Newton's Principia in the context of selected writings by Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Einstein.
• James Gleick, Isaac Newton, Knopf, 2003, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0375422331
• Harlow Shapley, S. Rapport, H. Wright, A Treasury of Science; "Newtonia" pp. 147-9; "Discoveries" pp. 150-4. Harper & Bros., New York, 1946.
• William C. Dampier & M. Dampier, Readings in the Literature of Science, Harper & Row, New York, 1959.

External links

• Newton's Principia free to read and searchOnline First American Edition, 1846, including Motte's 1729 Translation and Chittenden's Biography.
• Portraits of Issac Newton
• Works by Isaac Newton. Project Gutenberg
• Sir Isaac Newton Scientist and Mathematician by Lucidcafé
• Isaac Newton Directory
• Newton Research Project
• Rebuttal of Newton as an astrologer
• Newton Reconsidered, an interview with Newton scholar Stephen D. Snobelen at the Galilean Library
• March 5-June 12, 2005 Isaac Newton's personal copy of Principia on display at Huntington Library
• Newton's Reports as Master of the Royal Mint.
• Newton's Dark Secrets NOVA television program.
• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. Isaac Newton at the MacTutor archive
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Newton's views on space, time, and motion.
• Sir Isaac Newton. An article that traces his life and achievements.
• Newton's Castle Educational material about Newton
• The Chymistry of Isaac Newton Research about Isaac Newton's alchemical writings.
• The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences
  • Biography at Isaac Newton Institute

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