Sir Isaac Newton Accomplishments Essay Example

the college, which was part of the Cambridge University, he paid for his upkeep there by working for the wealthy students. He, however, succeeded in acquiring a scholarship in 1664 enabling him to study up to his M.A (Scientists and Scientists). In 1665 the university was closed down following the great plague outbreak where the students went for a compulsory holiday at home. It was during this time at home where he locked himself up in his room and came up with huge discoveries in calculus, law of gravitation and optics (Scientists and Scientists).

After returning to Cambridge in the year 1667, he was elected as a fellow of Trinity College and later on in 1668 constructed the first reflecting telescope. Having received his Master of Arts degree in 1669, he became the Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (Scientists and Scientists). At the Royal Society of London in 1671, he demonstrated on how to use his telescope, and the following year saw him get elected to become a member of the Royal Society during which he published the optic notes. According to his experiments, Newton concluded that light is made up of particles not waves and the white light is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. Although Hooke sharply critiqued him, he defended his ideas but suffered a nervous breakdown in 1678 and disappeared from the public eye. However, after the death of Hooke in 1703Newton headed the Royal Society and published a book called “opticks” in the following year (Revolution).

Edmund Halley, who was an astronomer, paid a visit to Newton in 1684 upon learning that he had done some mathematical conclusions on the

elliptical paths of celestial bodies. After checking out Newton’s work, they were able to publish “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” in 1687 that establishes the three laws of motion as well as the law of universal gravity (Revolution).
In the field of mathematics, Newton developed the theory of Calculus although another scientist called Leibniz was still developing the same calculus. When Leibniz later published his results, there ensued a conflict between the two blaming one another for plagiarism. This feud lasted till Leibniz died in the year 1713(Revolution). The major achievements of Newton in the field of mathematics included; generalizing the binomial theorem, developing the Newton identities, classified cubic plane curves, developed the use of fractional indices, substantiated on the theory of finite differences, derived solutions to Diophantine equations using geometry as well as came up with a new formula for pi ("Biography Sir Isaac Newton").

Newton law of universal gravitation was inspired by a falling apple in the family farm in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth. He wondered why the fruit did not move sideways or upwards from the ground but rather fell straight towards the center of our earth. He was further able to prove mathematically the force affecting the moon to orbit the earth as well as all the other heavenly bodies that orbited the Sun(Scientists and Scientists).

Apart from making tremendous achievements in science, Newton was also a Christian with unorthodox Protestant belief. He was not satisfied with the way Christian interpreted the Bible. For instance, he rejected the idea of the holy trinity and explained or showed that there was a difference between God and Jesus. He spent a considerable amount of time reading and interpreting the

Bible trying to find the Bible codes, while he wrote out his ideas even though they were not published for fear that they could spark conflict. ("Biography Sir Isaac Newton").

Newton also was interested in Alchemy and conducted many experiments on objects using mercury. Some people speculated that due to his experiments using mercury; he had high levels of mercury in his bloodstream which contributed to his early death and other health irregularities. Some historians estimated that he wrote more than a million alchemical note words (Science). Later in 1700, he was appointed as the Master of Mint and took his job seriously by moving the sterling pound coin to the gold standard as well as punishing any counterfeiters (Revolution).

Newton’s inventions indeed shaped the world today. For instance, the laws of motion have been used by scientists and researchers in designing space ships and launching them into space successfully. The invention of his reflecting telescope marked a milestone in the world of astronomy where his invention is the basis for the modern telescopes. Also, his mathematical contributions have been used widely in the Engineering discipline as well as in the statistics world (Scientists and Scientists).

In the year 1727 on March 31, Sir Isaac Newton died and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London. He had never married in his life and hence had no children. According to ("How Did Isaac Newton Die?") His hair tested positively for mercury which was thus a contributory factor to his death. This was from the many experiments in Alchemy thus possibly got poisoned from there ("Biography Sir Isaac Newton •").

In conclusion, Sir Isaac Newton is Newton is regarded as the founding

father of modern physics. He changed our view of the universe by discovering the laws of motion, gravity as well as inventing calculus. Also, his ideas on life as well as religion helped us shape our rational worldview. His life can be concluded as that which was private life, full of determination and one that sought to bring him a reputation. As seen from the above discussion, he built the first reflecting telescope and also concluded that white light is made up of the seven colors of the rainbow. He studied sound’s speed, came up with the empirical law of cooling as well as introduced the idea of Newtonian fluid. Besides coming up with Calculus, he contributed to the study of power series, generalized the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, classified cubic plane curves and also devised methods for approximating roots of a function.

References

1. "Biography Sir Isaac Newton". Biography Online. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
2. "How Did Isaac Newton Die?". Reference. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
3. Revolution, Isaac. "Isaac Newton - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.Com". HISTORY.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
4. Science, Live. "Isaac Newton Biography | Facts, Quotes & Inventions". Live Science. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
5. Scientists, Top and List Scientists. "Isaac Newton - Biography, Facts And Pictures". Famousscientists.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.