SIR ISAAC NEWTON - A TRUE GENIUS

From today onwards I would like to introduce you all to scientists whose contributions are worth mentioning. So to start with we have Sir Isaac Newton hear with us...

Sree: Hello Newton! Good to see you...

Newton: Mmm...yes I know I know...

Sree: Sir I have just started a new blog on science. I am starting my first blog...by introducing you to my viewers.

Newton: What??? Everyone knows me...😏, there isn't a need for any special introduction. Any student who has chosen or studied science surely knows me and my theories...Anyway good luck to you...And since you started with me you will surely have a bright future👐👍

And...💥...Newton just vanished in thin air...Hmmm...might have gone to his study to develop some new ideas on calculus and gravity...😇

Newton has bid us farewell however his life and ideas still remain ''a textbook for science students''.

I am a student who is deeply influenced by Newton and he still remains one of my idols in science. So let us waste no time and probe deep into the tumultuous, engaging and extraordinary life of Sir Isaac Newton, the 'Father of Classical Mechanics'...

Early Life of Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe Manor House, London, in the UK. He did not have a happy childhood. His father died young and his mother re-married. When he was 19, he made list of self-confessed sins, of which one was; ''Threatening my father and mother to burn them and the house over them''.

In spite of having bad childhood days, Newton found relief in making windmills and other extraordinary structures at a very young age. When someone who was moved my Newton's genius, asked his mother to send him to Cambridge University for higher studies, she rebuked and stated that she wanted her son to be a farmer. 

However Newton did not want to become a farmer. After a series of talks it was finally decided to sent Newton to Cambridge University London for higher education. But his mother was not ready to yield so easily and she refused to pay for his fees to attend the University. Newton worked hard and earned a scholarship with which he pursued his studies.

 His batchmates were least interested in Science and the subjects that they learnt at the University, instead they found pleasure in singing, dancing, drinking and enjoying. Newton was a puritan and he couldn't digest such practices. This made him an introvert and he began working on his own theories and at the same time focusing on his studies at Cambridge.

Newton learnt the Aristotelian notions of motion which were more irrational, devoid of a scientific base. Newton once said...

   ''

Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend but my best friend is truth...

       

Newton and Optics

Newton then went on to publish one of his famous papers, 'Opticks' in the year 1707. In this work mentioned that light is composed of seven principal colours (which we usually abbreviate as VIBGYOR). 

One day he almost blinded himself my looking at the Sun for several hours to see what effect it would have on him. He also conducted a daring experiment by poking his eye with a needle in order to understand how altering the shape of of his eye would change his experiment. 

The following image from the Cambridge Digital Library shows the copy of the manuscript that Newton wrote about this experiment. You can also observe the drawing made by Newton himself, depicting his famous experiment!!!

NEWTON AND THE ORIGIN OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS

We often associate Newton with his famous Laws of Motion, his theory of Universal Gravitation and the role he played in the development of infinitesimal calculus. Newton's laws of motion and his theory of gravitation are the base of what is now called the, 'Classical Mechanics'. 

In 1687, Newton published his landmark work, a work so sublime and historic that no other scientific work could ever replace its originality and clarity of words. This landmark work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which is Latin for the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy established 'Classical Mechanics'. This is why Newton is often referred to as the 'Father of Classical Mechanics'.

In this three volume book Newton gave the first precise description about the laws that govern the motion of all bodies on the universe. He also proved that there was a force that existed between all celestial bodies in the universe which he called gravity and postulated his famous 'Universal Law of Gravitation', which is as given below,

      

                                                                                

    "Every object in the universe attracts every other object and this force is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the of the distance between them."

Newton on Alchemy and Religion

I don't know if you believe me or not, Newton wrote more papers on alchemy and religion than on science 😲😱...can you believe this??? We thought Newton was a scientist and now we find that he was an alchemist and an accomplished theologian??? Yes. Newton was more interested in these occult fields. 

However it should be noted that alchemy was strictly banned in England and in many European countries and if a person was found to be indulged in such activities he would face cruel punishments and in some cases even executions. But this won't slow down Newton. He was interested in alchemy and carried out his experiments undercover in secrecy. Alchemists were primarily concerned with discovering the 'Philosopher's Stone', a mythical alchemical substance which can turn base metals to gold.

Newton was a highly religious person he devoted a great deal of time studying and decoding the ''Holy Bible''.

Newton and his rivalries

Newton-Leibnitz Calculus controversy still remains one of the heated debates in the history of Science. Since Newton was so secretive of his work he kept his greatest breakthroughs to himself and didn't publish them right away and worked out the details by himself. 

At the same time G.W. Leibnitz published his ''Nova Methodus pro Maximins et Minimis'' which remains the first published work on calculus. 

Newton accused Leibnitz stating that Leibnitz stole his papers. Many philosophers, mathematicians and scientists supported Newton as he was the President of the Royal Society and using his power suppressed Leibnitz's protests to a great extend.

Newton was involved in a very bitter fight with Robert Hooke over the discovery of the inverse square

law. When Newton published his findings on the theory of light, Robert Hooke questioned his findings as many of the statements made by Newton in his paper were in fact contradicting Hooke's own findings.

More about Newton

In the year 1707, Queen Anne of Great Britain conferred knighthood to Newton, and became Sir Isaac Newton. 

Newton has become the very personification of science, especially physics and has been an inspiration to many including me. 

He was a very hardworking scientist and it is said that he worked for about 20 hours a day, he ate very little and slept for a very small duration of time. 

In the end I would like to introduce to my readers a very famous quote of Newton, it has inspired me a lot and continues to inspire me. This quotation of Sir Isaac Newton clearly states his perseverance and his ability to probe deep into the mysteries of the Universe.

 

''I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself  I seem to have been only like a boy playing in the seashore , and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth that lay all undiscovered before me''

                 

   

Sree: Sir how was my description?

Newton: Yeah...it was really great...I loved it...you thoroughly researched my life I guess.

Sree: Yes Sir😊

Newton: You could have eliminated that 'rivalry part' from your blog😒...Anyway I want to meet Mr. Einstein who is now questioning some of my theories, so good bye for now👋

   

 

Picture courtesy:

1. Wikimedia Commons: Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton by Godfrey Kneller.

2. Cambridge Digital Library: Newton's paper on theory of light depicting the incident of poking his eye with the needles.

Information credits:

1. Different science books and biographies related to Sir Isaac Newton.

2. Some excerpts quoted directly from Wikipedia.