Many consider Isaac Newton to be not only one of the greatest figures in the history of science, but also one of the supreme intellects ever produced by the human race. Besides his explanation of the laws of motion and gravitation and his discoveries concerning light and color, his development of calculus is regarded as the greatest creation in all of mathematics. (Bruno) More than two centuries have passed since Isaac Newton’s death, yet his legacy still lives on science.
In the same year that the great Italian mathematician Galileo died, Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642, in the village of Woolsthorpe, near Lincolnshire, England. Newton was a premature baby who was not expected to live. His father had died three months before the …show more content…
During his time at the farm, Newton worked independently on his studies, experimenting in the areas of gravitation and optics (the study of light) and developing a form of math known as calculus. In 1666, Newton saw an apple fall to the ground, and he began to ponder the force that was responsible for the action. While this story has often been considered a legend, Newton confirmed that it did in fact happen. He first thought that the apple fell because all matter attracts other matter. He then theorized that the rate of the apple's fall was directly proportional to the attractive force Earth exerted upon it. (Scientists: Their Lives and …show more content…
In 1668, Newton built a new type of telescope, a telescope altogether different from Galileo's and more powerful. It consisted of a large mirror placed at one end of a thick tube. The mirror was a special type called a concave mirror, which is curved. Newton realized that if light from a distant object, such as a planet, hit this special mirror it would bounce back to a point in front of it. The mirror produced the same effect as the eye lens in a refracting telescope. It made the light appear to come from a far bigger object. If the light was then reflected into an eyepiece at the side of the tube, the observer would see a magnified image of the planet. Newton called his telescope a reflecting telescope. The skills he had learnt as a child building models and toys in Lincolnshire had come in very
In the same year that the great Italian mathematician Galileo died, Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642, in the village of Woolsthorpe, near Lincolnshire, England. Newton was a premature baby who was not expected to live. His father had died three months before the …show more content…
During his time at the farm, Newton worked independently on his studies, experimenting in the areas of gravitation and optics (the study of light) and developing a form of math known as calculus. In 1666, Newton saw an apple fall to the ground, and he began to ponder the force that was responsible for the action. While this story has often been considered a legend, Newton confirmed that it did in fact happen. He first thought that the apple fell because all matter attracts other matter. He then theorized that the rate of the apple's fall was directly proportional to the attractive force Earth exerted upon it. (Scientists: Their Lives and …show more content…
In 1668, Newton built a new type of telescope, a telescope altogether different from Galileo's and more powerful. It consisted of a large mirror placed at one end of a thick tube. The mirror was a special type called a concave mirror, which is curved. Newton realized that if light from a distant object, such as a planet, hit this special mirror it would bounce back to a point in front of it. The mirror produced the same effect as the eye lens in a refracting telescope. It made the light appear to come from a far bigger object. If the light was then reflected into an eyepiece at the side of the tube, the observer would see a magnified image of the planet. Newton called his telescope a reflecting telescope. The skills he had learnt as a child building models and toys in Lincolnshire had come in very