Isaac Newton

Despite having a near-to perfect professional life, Newton’s personal life was less than perfect. He suffered from bouts of insecurity and pride and even mental instability.

Newton spent his final years in Cranbury Park in Winchester England with his niece and her husband. He had achieved considerable popularity due to his scientific discoveries and a whole lot of money as well.

Newton breathed his last on March 31, 1727, in his sleep after experiencing severe pain in his abdomen. He was buried at Westminister Abbey. Posthumously, Newton was adjudged as the greatest scientist or genius who ever lived. He was even compared to the likes of Aristotle, Plato and Galileo.

Isaac Newton was born on 4 January 1643, in Woolsthorpe Manor, England, to Hannah Ayscough and Isaac Newton. His father died three months prior to his birth. Hannah remarried Reverend Barnabus Smith, leaving the three-year old Newton under the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery Ayscough.

Newton attained his preliminary education from The King’s School in Grantham, where he excelled and achieved the top-rank. He then enrolled himself as a sizar at the Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661.

It was during his years at the Cambridge that Newton developed an interest in physics, mathematics, optics and astronomy. Though he was taught standard curriculum, he developed an interest in advanced science and spent his time reading works of modern philosophers.

A plague epidemic of 1665 forced the shutdown of the college for two years, which Newton spent at his home in Woolsthorpe. However, he did not let go of his studies and continued the same privately.

It was during these two years of hiatus from regular studies that Newton worked on the development of his theories on calculus, optics and law of gravitation. He even discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became infinitesimal calculus.

As a professor, Newton was required to serve as a tutor but his special permission gave him a privilege according to which he needed to deliver an annual course of lectures which he delivered on his work on optics.

Newton worked on his study of optics over a period of years, investigating about the refraction of light by a glass prism. Years of elaborate, refined and exact experiments led Newton to finally discover and conclude the fact that color is an intrinsic property of light and that light was composed of particles.

Newton found out that white light was a mixture of infinitely varied coloured rays that is visible in the rainbow and the spectrum. Furthermore, he determined the fact that the refraction of white light caused by a prism into a multi-coloured spectrum could be recomposed to white light using a lens and a second prism. He even dealt with the fact that white light, when refracted to form colored light, did not change its properties.

He concluded that colour is the result of objects interacting with already-coloured light rather than objects generating the colour themselves, which was later known as Newton’s theory of color. To prove this theory, Newton build upon a telescope in 1668, known as the Newtonian telescope.

Later in 1672, Newton came up with his first published work on lights, optics and color titled ‘Opticks: A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light’. His work, however, did not please everyone at the Royal Society, including Robert Hooke with whom he shared an unpleasant relationship all through.

The publication of ‘Principia’ elevated the reputation of Newton in the scientific circle to greater heights. He was widely acknowledged for his discoveries which were ranked amongst humanity’s greatest achievements.

The rising prominence and reputation encouraged Newton to take interest in other spheres, which made him more and more active in public life. His position at Cambridge interested him no more as he became interested in other issues. Following this, Newton was elected to represent Cambridge at the Parliament.

In the upcoming years, Newton expanded his circle to get pally with political philosophers like John Locke. While the world still was under the realm of Aristotelian philosophy and view of the nature, a young generation of British scientists became influenced by Newton’s works and thought of him as their leader.

Newton faced another nervous breakdown during this time but recovered from the same pretty early. However, following the breakdown, Newton lost interest in scientific discoveries and started to indulge his time in the study of alchemy and prophecy.

In 1696, Newton was appointed to the position of Warden of the Mint. Acquiring the title, he moved to London to attain this long-desired governmental position. No longer than in 1699, he was promoted to the position of Master of the Mint. Holding the profile until his death, Newton worked on reforming the status of currency and punishing clippers and counterfeiters. He even moved the currency from silver to gold standard.