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Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727), was an English mathematician and physicist, he is considered one of the greatest scientists in history, who made important contributions to many fields of science. His discoveries and theories laid the foundation for much of the progress in science since his time. Newton was one of the inventors of the branch of mathematics called calculus (the other was German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). He also solved the mysteries of light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and derived from them the law of universal gravitation. Newton was born on January 4, 1643, at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire. When he was three years old, his widowed mother remarried, leaving him in the care of his grandmother.
Eventually his mother, by then widowed a second time, was persuaded to send him to grammar school in Grantham. Later, in the summer of 1661, he was sent to Trinity College, at the University of Cambridge. Newton received his bachelors degree in 1665. After a break of nearly two years to avoid the plague, Newton went back to Trinity, which elected him to a fellowship in 1667. He received his masters degree in 1668. Newton ignored much of the established curriculum of the university to pursue his own interests: mathematics and natural philosophy.
Proceeding entirely on his own, he investigated the latest developments in mathematics and the new natural philosophy that treated nature as a complicated machine. Almost immediately, he made fundamental discoveries that were instrumental in his career in science. The Fluxional Method Newtons first achievement was in mathematics. He generalized the methods that were being used to draw tangents to curves and to calculate the area swept by curves, and he recognized that the two procedures were inverse operations. By joining them in what he called the fluxions method, Newton developed in the autumn of 1666 a kind of mathematics that is now known as calculus. Calculus was a new and powerful method that carried modern mathematics above the level of Greek geometry.
Although Newton was its inventor, he did not introduce calculus into European mathematics. In 1675 Leibniz came up with the same method, which he called differential calculus. Leibniz proceeded to publish his method and received sole credit for its invention until Newton published a detailed exposition of his fluxions method in 1704. Always fearful of publication and criticism, Newton kept his discovery to himself. However, enough was known of his abilities to effect his appointment in 1669 as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
Optics Optics was another area of Newtons early interests. In trying to explain how colors occur, he arrived at the idea that sunlight is a blend of different rays each of which represents a different color and that reflections and refractions cause colors to appear by separating the blend into its components. Newton demonstrated his theory of colors by passing a beam of sunlight through a type of prism, which split the beam into separate colors. In 1672 Newton sent a brief exposition of his theory of colors to the Royal Society in London. Its appearance in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions led to a number of criticisms that confirmed his fear of publication, and he tried to keep away from the publics eye as much as possible. He then continued his Cambridge studies.
In 1704, however, Newton published Optics, which explained his theories in detail. The Principia In August 1684 Newtons was interrupted by a visit from Edmund Halley, the British astronomer and mathematician, who discussed with Newton the problem of orbital motion. Newton had also pursued the science of mechanics as an undergraduate, and at that time he had already written some basic notions about universal gravitation. As a result of Halley's visit, Newton went back into to these studies. During the next two and a half years, Newton established the modern science of dynamics by making his three laws of motion. Newton applied these laws to Kepler's laws of orbital motion written by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler and came up with the law of universal gravitation.
Newton is probably best known for discovering universal gravitation, which explains that all bodies in space and on earth are affected by the force called gravity. He published this theory in his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687. This book marked a turning point in the history of science, it also ensured that its author could never regain his privacy. The Principes appearance also involved Newton in an unpleasant episode with the English philosopher and physicist Robert Hooke. In 1687 Hooke claimed that Newton had stolen from him a central idea of the book. However, most historians do not accept Hooke's charge of plagiarism.
In the same year, 1687, Newton helped lead Cambridge's resistance to the efforts of King James II to make the university a Catholic institution. After the English Revolution in 1688, which drove James from England, the university elected Newton one of its representatives in a special ceremony of the countrys parliament. The following four years were filled with intense activity for Newton by as he was surprised by the success of the Principia, he tried to put all his earlier achievements into a final written form. In the summer of 1693 Newton showed symptoms of a severe emotional disorder. Although he regained his health, his creative period had come to an end.
Newtons connections with the leaders of the new regime in England led to his appointment as warden, and later master, of the Royal Mint in London, where he lived after 1696. In 1703 the Royal Society elected him president, an office he held for the rest of his life. As president, he ordered the immediate publication of the astronomical observations of the first Astronomer Royal of England, John Flamsteed. Newton needed these observations to perfect his lunar theory.
This matter led to a big fight with Flamsteed. Newton also engaged in a violent dispute with Leibniz over who was the inventor of calculus. Newton used his position as president of the Royal Society to have a committee of that body investigate the question, and he secretly wrote the committees report, which charged Leibniz with deliberate plagiarism. Newton also compiled the book of evidence that the society published. The effects of the fight showed until his death in 1727. In addition to science, Newton also showed an interest in alchemy, mysticism, and theology.
Many pages of his notes and writings particularly from the later years of his career are devoted to these topics. However, historians have found little connection between these interests and Newtons scientific work. Newtons First Law of Motion An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless the object is acted upon by an outside force. This means that if you leave a book on your coffee table over night, when you return in the morning, unless an outside force moved it, it will be in the same place. This also means that if you kick a soccer ball, it will continue moving until it hits something. However we all know the ball will eventually stop even if it does not hit a wall this is because of the friction between the ball and the ground, and between the ball and the air.
We feel the effects of Newtons First Law every day, but usually dont notice them because other forces interfere. In space, the First Law is much more obvious. Objects will follow their natural trajectories until an outside force stops them. On earth, the atmosphere will eventually slow down all moving objects, but in a vacuum (basically an empty space with no air or atmosphere), like space, it will be more obvious that objects obey Newtons Laws. One of the most common places people feel the First Law is in a fast moving vehicle, such as a car or a bus, that comes to a stop. An outside force stops the vehicle, but the passengers, who have been moving at a high speed, are not stopped and continue to move at the same speed.
Below is an example of this: Newtons Second Law of Motion Newtons Second Law is easily expressed by an equation: Acceleration = Force/Mass This is usually shortened to A = F/M or F = MA. Since acceleration is the rate at which speed changes, it is usually expressed in units of m / s (every second, the object that is accelerating will go that much faster). Force is usually expressed in Newtons (N), which are kg / s . Newtons Second Law is more abstract than the First. The Second Law governs all acceleration and is really very simple acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass.
The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object). Everyone unconsciously knows the Second Law. Everyone knows that heavier objects require more force to move the same distance than do lighter objects. The Second Law, however, gives us an exact relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Below is an example of how Newtons Second Law works: Newtons Third Law of Motion Newtons Third Law is probably his most famous.
In short, it is: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction These actions are forces, so you can remember this law as being every force has an equal and opposite force. Remember that these are two separate forces, which act upon two separate objects, and so they do not cancel each other out. The Third Law at first seems simple, but is a very important law. Every time we interact with our surroundings we feel the Third Law.
When you punch someone in the face, your hand not only applies a force to the persons face; the persons face applies a force to your hand. Since the persons face is softer than your hand it suffers more from the interaction. The Third Law is very important for space travel. In the cold void of space there is no air for jets to suck or for propellers to churn, and yet space ships can maneuver in a vacuum.
How do they do it? The engines propel gas particles out the back of the space ship. Since every force has an equal and opposite reaction force, the space ship will be propelled forwards. Because of the First Law, space ships do not need very much fuel once they are moving they will stay in motion
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Research essay sample on Sir Isaac Newton Three Laws Of Motion
