Free Essay on Isaac Newton's Biography and Discoveries

Isaac Newton's biography

Isaac Newton, a man of the greatest minds both at his times but beyond ages was born in England on the 25th December 1642. Newton's major discoveries were in mathematics and physics. His discoveries laid a foundation on the scientific studies of sight and light known as optics, in mathematics, he came up with calculus a branch of mathematics and developed the theories of motion. The "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" is one of the most equally acclaimed and influential books he published in 1687. Sir Isaac Newton died at the age of 84 in 1727 while staying in London.

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Despite being born in a wealthy family, Newton lost his father at the age of three months after birth. Sr. Isaac Newton was taken care by his grandmother as his mother remarried to Barnabas Smith. His tough childhood would later in his adult life explain his anti-social behavior. Isaac was reunited with his mother after the demise of her second husband, hence Newton joined the other three siblings. Newton's mother felt that her son could make a better farmer. However, his fascination and love with chemistry made him go against his mother's wish and instead insisting on staying in school (Christianson, 2009).

Isaac was at the Cambridge University when the world underwent the 17th Century scientific revolution. During this era, different schools of thoughts were advancing different types of theories regarding nature. Sr. Isaac Newton engaged himself in reading more about philosophy while studying less despite his love of science. His performance was poor in class and it almost cost him academically. Isaac secured financial aid to future his education despite scoring poorly after graduating. The Cambridge University was closed down temporarily due to the 1665s Europe plague, however, the legends discoveries began to take shape during this time. Sr. Isaac Newton's publications after earning his Masters of Arts degree was widely accepted hence he ended up earning the position of a professor at the age of 26 (Christianson, 2009).

His Discoveries and Education

Sr. Isaac Newton was encouraged to do more research work as he was exempted from teaching while at the Cambridge University. It is during this time when he constructed and designed the light telescope in 1668. Therefore, leading to the discoveries of light and its components. His works work refuted by Robert Hooke immediately after publishing his notes. Hooke was among the most respected scientists whose work in optics and mechanics were acclaimed.

Newton realized that the prism refracts colors at different angles despite the light entering the prism being circular, hence discovering that there are minimum deviations of colors on an existing prism. These discoveries took place during his dispute with Leibniz about calculus. Therefore, Isaac Newton was able to find out that color is a property of light a debate that arose in the preceding years. It is from this discovery that led to Newton's theory of color that states that the property of a colored light does not change through the separation of a colored beam and shinning it on an object but remains the same color whether transmitted, scattered or reflected. He further observed that objects do not produce color, however, the interaction of objects with the already colored light produces color. Newton deduced that the telescope lens would be affected by the dispersion of light into a color through a refraction. Newton developed a Newtonian telescope as the first reflecting telescope that used mirrors instead of lenses as he focused on proving his theory. Isaac Newton concluded that the white light has a set of the spectrum of colors and the same colors are seen in a rainbow is the same as the ones in the white light (Christianson, 2009).

Criticism of Newton's work by Robert Hooke made him exempt himself from the public debates. However, Newton returned to his work on gravitation and celestial mechanics and there effects on the planet orbit when Hooke attempted to provoke his influences when Hooke was appointed as the manager of the Royal Society's communication. Newton's collaboration and his work with John Flamsteed Newton led to the proof that the planets elliptical orbit arose due to the centripetal forces that are inversely relative to the square radius vector. The discovery was in December 1684 copied into the Royal Society register after its early transcription (Biography.com, 2017). On the 5th of July 1687, Newton published "The Principia" which was a detailed publication of the three universal laws of motion. The three laws explained the relationship between the forces acting on an object and the object with the resulting motions.

Sir Isaac Newton discovered that both the differentiation and integration problems in mathematics were inverse to each other. He went further and discovered various techniques that could be used in finding a solution to the curvature problems (Tyson, 2005). The "inverse method of fluxions" and the "method of fluxions" are some of his mathematical calculations that were embraced. These methods are equivalent to the integral calculus and Leibniz's later differential respectively. Isaac was able to solve different problems that could not be solved by classical geometry, find the lengths of curves and draw tangents to curves after he developed these aspects of calculus. Analogous geometrical arguments were extensively made by Newton and like the Leibniz's differentials, the fluxions were expressed algebraically.

Isaac Newton spent most of his time in deep thought and social recluse during his time back at home after the temporary closure of the Cambridge University. He began contemplating about the properties on a deeper and bigger scale on the force of gravity when he was struck by an apple on his head while still under an apple tree. Therefore, he went further and concluded that the force of gravity could be measured. For instance, he used an example of a ball being tied to a pole. Therefore, in the circular path, the strength of the string held the ball. The ball was then sent away in a straight path when the ball eventually snapped after it swung faster and faster. Therefore, Isaac Newton concluded that the strength of the string could be used as a measure. Isaac Newton come up with three universal laws of motion for instance, that there is opposition and equal reaction for all the reactions, secondly, that change takes place in certain proportions based on the force applied and lastly, a body remains in a state of rest or in a state on motion until an acting force compels it to change.

He also went further and developed his own versions of the scientific methods. For instance, he came up with four major steps of the scientific methods, for example, the first step is a scientist has to admit that there are no more causes of natural things that are sufficient and true in explaining their appearance. Secondly, that there should be the assignment of the natural effects to the same cause. Thirdly, that until other phenomena contradict the propositions from the observations of phenomena, they should be viewed as accurate. Lastly, the same causes should be assigned to the same natural effects. The four principles were thought to be innovative and unique during the Isaac Newton's days. He came up with the solutions and results of problems of his day and the modern day phenomena through the use of the four steps of scientific investigation (Tyson, 2005).

Sir Isaac Newton, also contributed to the relationship between science and theology. For instance, despite adhering the Anglican doctrine of his time, he denounced its beliefs and traditions of that time. He, however, accepted the doctrine of the pagan and denounced the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Despite him believing that the bible was true, several of his ideas contradicted it as he believed that the bible had been distorted over time. He was tormented by the Jerusalem Temple and believed that its builders had the correct understanding of how the universe worked and God.

The generalized binomial theorem is one of the areas that Newton has been credited with. He discovered the classified cubic plane curves and Newton's identities on the polynomials. Sir Isaac Newtown was the first person to use functional indices and made important contributions to the theory of finite differences. Moreover, Tyson (2005) reveals that the partial sums of the harmonic series through logarithms were approximated by Sir Isaac Newton. The Euler's summation formula was formulated from logarithms.

In conclusion, Sir Isaac Newton lived a unique life. For instance, after going through his contributions in optics, mathematics, physics and science and his life one gains a greater appreciation of whatever he did on this earth. Newton made significant contributions to the study of power series and calculus, therefore he was one of the greatest mathematicians. He came up with the method that is used to approximate the roots of a function, generalized the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents and classified most of the cubic plane curves.

Works cited

Biography.com. (2017). "Biography, A&E Television Networks, 1 Aug. 2017, www.biography.com/people/isaac-newton-9422656. Accessed 1st May. 20178.

Christianson, G. E. (2009). Isaac Newton and the scientific revolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tyson, P. (2005). Newton's Legacy. Accessed 1st May, 2018, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/newton-legacy.html