Who is Newton and why is he famous? Brief biography of Isaac Newton, the most important thing

Isaac Newton's short biography is outlined in this article.

Isaac Newton short biography

Isaac Newton- English mathematician, astronomer, physicist, mechanic, who laid the foundations of classical mechanics. He explained the movement of celestial bodies - the planets around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth. His most famous discovery was the law of universal gravitation

Was born December 25, 1642 years in a farming family in the town of Woolsthorpe near Grantham. His father died before he was born. From the age of 12 he studied at Grantham School. At that time he lived in the house of the pharmacist Clark, which may have awakened in him a craving for chemical sciences

1661 entered Trinity College, Cambridge University as a subsizer. After graduating from college in 1665, Newton received a bachelor's degree. 1665–67, during the plague, was in his native village of Woolsthorpe; These years were the most productive in Newton's scientific work.

In 1665-1667, Newton developed ideas that led him to the creation of differential and integral calculus, the invention of a reflecting telescope (made by himself in 1668), and the discovery of the law of universal gravitation. Here he conducted experiments on the decomposition (dispersion) of light. It was then that Newton outlined a program for further scientific growth

In 1668 he successfully defended his master's degree and became a senior member of Trinity College.

In 1889 receives one of the departments at Cambridge University: the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics.

In 1671, Newton built his second reflecting telescope, larger and of better quality than the first. The demonstration of the telescope made a strong impression on his contemporaries, and soon after (in January 1672) Newton was elected a member of the Royal Society of London - the English Academy of Sciences.

Also in 1672, Newton submitted to the Royal Society of London his research on a new theory of light and colors, which caused heated controversy with Robert Hooke. Newton had ideas about monochromatic light rays and the periodicity of their properties, substantiated by the finest experiments. In 1687, he published his grandiose work “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (“Principles”).

Since 1696, by Royal Decree, Newton was appointed Superintendent of the Mint. His energetic reform is quickly restoring confidence in the UK monetary system. 1703 - Newton's election as president of the Royal Society, which he ruled for 20 years. 1703 - Queen Anne knighted Newton for scientific merits. In the last years of his life, he devoted a lot of time to theology and ancient and biblical history.

Sir Isaac Newton is an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, creator of classical mechanics, who made the greatest scientific discoveries in the history of mankind.

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 (Gregorian calendar) in the village of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire. He received his name in honor of his father, who died 3 months before the birth of his son. Three years later, Isaac's mother, Anna Ayscough, remarried. Three more children were born into the new family. Isaac Newton was taken into the care of his uncle, William Ayscough.

Childhood

The house where Newton was born

Isaac grew up withdrawn and silent. He preferred reading to communicating with his peers. He loved making technical toys: kites, windmills, water clocks.

At the age of 12, Newton began attending school in Grantham. He lived at that time in the house of the pharmacist Clark. Persistence and hard work soon made Newton the best student in his class. But when Newton was 16 years old, his stepfather died. Isaac's mother brought him back to the estate and assigned him household responsibilities. But Newton did not like this at all. He did little housekeeping, preferring reading to this boring activity. One day, Newton's uncle, finding him with a book in his hands, was amazed to see that Newton was solving a mathematical problem. Both his uncle and the school teacher convinced Newton’s mother that such a capable young man should continue his studies.

Trinity College

Trinity College

In 1661, 18-year-old Newton was enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge University, as a sizar student. Such students were not charged tuition fees. They had to pay their tuition by doing various jobs at the University or serving wealthy students.

In 1664, Newton passed the exams, became a student and began to receive a scholarship.

Newton studied, forgetting about sleep and rest. He studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, phonetics, and music theory.

In March 1663, the department of mathematics was opened at the college. It was headed by Isaac Barrow, a mathematician, future teacher and friend of Newton. In 1664 Newton discovered binomial expansion for an arbitrary rational exponent. This was Newton's first mathematical discovery. Newton would later discover a mathematical method for expanding a function into an infinite series. At the end of 1664 he received his bachelor's degree.

Newton studied the works of physicists: Galileo, Descartes, Kepler. Based on their theories, he created universal world system.

Newton's programmatic phrase: “In philosophy there can be no sovereign except truth...”. Is this where the famous expression came from: “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”?

Years of the Great Plague Epidemic

The years 1665 to 1667 were the period of the Great Plague. Classes at Trinity College ceased and Newton went to Woolsthorpe. He took all his notebooks and books with him. During these difficult “plague years,” Newton did not stop studying science. Carrying out various optical experiments, Newton proved that white color is a mixture of all colors of the spectrum. Law of Gravity- this is Newton’s greatest discovery, made by him during the “plague years”. Newton finally formulated this law only after the discovery of the laws of mechanics. And these discoveries were published only decades later.

Scientific discoveries

Newton's telescope

At the beginning of 1672, the Royal Society demonstrated reflecting telescope, which made Newton famous. Newton became a member of the Royal Society.

In 1686 Newton formulated three laws of mechanics, described the orbits of celestial bodies: hyperbolic and parabolic, proved that the Sun also obeys the general laws of motion. All this was set out in the first volume of Mathematical Principles.

In 1669, Newton's world system began to be taught at Cambridge and Oxford. Newton also becomes a foreign member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In the same year, Newton was appointed manager of the Mint. He leaves Cambridge for London.

In 1669 Newton was elected to parliament. He stayed there for only a year. But in 1701 he was elected there again. That same year, Newton resigned as professor at Trinity College.

In 1703, Newton became president of the Royal Society and remained in this position until the end of his life.

In 1704, the monograph “Optics” was published. And in 1705, Isaac Newton was awarded the title of knight for scientific achievements. This happened for the first time in the history of England.

The famous collection of lectures on algebra, published in 1707 and called “Universal Arithmetic,” laid the foundation for the birth numerical analysis.

In the last years of his life, he wrote the “Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms” and prepared a reference book on comets. Newton very accurately calculated the orbit of Halley's Comet.

Isaac Newton died in 1727 in Kensington near London. Buried in Westminster Abbey.

Newton's discoveries allowed humanity to make a giant leap in the development of mathematics, astronomy, and physics.

>> Isaac Newton

Biography of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Brief biography:

Education: Cambridge University

Place of birth: Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, Kingdom of England

Place of death: Kensington, Middlesex, England, Kingdom of Great Britain

– English astronomer, physicist, mathematician: biography with photos, ideas and classical physics of Newton, the law of universal gravitation, three laws of motion.

Sir was an English physicist and mathematician from a poor farming family. His short biography began on December 25, 1642 at Woolsthorpe near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Newton was a poor farmer and was eventually sent to Trinity College at Cambridge University to train as a preacher. While studying at Cambridge, Newton pursued his personal interests and studied philosophy and mathematics. He received his bachelor's degree in 1665 and was later forced to leave Cambridge because it was closed due to the plague. He returned in 1667 and was admitted to the fraternity. Isaac Newton received his master's degree in 1668.

Newton is considered one of the greatest scientists in history. In the course of his short biography, he made significant investments in many branches of modern sciences. Unfortunately, the famous story of Newton and the apple is largely based on fiction rather than real events. His discoveries and theories laid the foundation for further progress in science since then. Newton was one of the creators of the mathematical branch called calculus. He also solved the mystery of light and optics, formulated three laws of motion and, with their help, created the law of universal gravitation. Newton's laws of motion are among the most fundamental natural laws in classical mechanics. In 1686, Newton described his own discoveries in his book Principia Mathematica. Newton's three laws of motion, when combined, underlie all interactions of force, matter, and motion beyond those involving relativity and quantum effects.

Newton's first law of motion is the Law of Inertia. Briefly stated, it is that an object at rest tends to remain in that state unless acted upon by an external force.

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that there is a relationship between unbalanced forces acting on a particular object. As a result, the object accelerates. (In other words, force equals mass times acceleration, or F = ma).

Newton's third law of motion, also called the principle of action and reaction, describes that for absolutely every action there is an equivalent response. After a severe nervous breakdown in 1693, Newton withdrew from his own studies to seek the governorship of London. In 1696 he became rector of the Royal Mint. In 1708, Newton was elected Queen Anne. He is the first scientist to be so revered for his work. From that moment on he was known as Sir Isaac Newton. The scientist devoted most of his time to theology. He wrote a large number of prophecies and predictions about subjects that were interesting to him. In 1703 he was chosen as President of the Royal Society and was re-elected every year until his death on 20 March 1727.

Isaac Newton was born into a farmer's family in the village of Wilsthorpe, Lincolnshire, in eastern England, off the coast of the North Sea. Having successfully completed school in the city of Grantham, the young man entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. Among the famous graduates of the college are the philosopher Francis Bacon, Lord Byron, the writer Vladimir Nabokov, the kings of England Edward VII and George VI, and Prince Charles of Wales. Interestingly, Newton became a bachelor in 1664, having already made his first discovery. With the outbreak of the plague, the young scientist went home, but in 1667 he returned to Cambridge, and in 1668 he became Master of Trinity College. The following year, 26-year-old Newton became professor of mathematics and optics, replacing his teacher Barrow, who was appointed royal chaplain. In 1696, King William III of Orange appointed Newton as keeper of the Mint, and three years later as manager. In this position, the scientist actively fought against counterfeiters and carried out several reforms, which over the decades led to an increase in the country's prosperity. In 1714, Newton wrote the article “Observations Concerning the Value of Gold and Silver,” thereby summarizing his experience of financial regulation in government office.
Fact
Isaac Newton never married.

14 Major Discoveries of Isaac Newton

1. Newton's binomial. Newton made his first mathematical discovery at the age of 21. As a student, he derived the binomial formula. Newton's binomial is a formula for polynomial expansion of an arbitrary natural power of a binomial (a + b) to the power n. Everyone today knows the formula for the square of the sum a + b, but in order not to make a mistake in determining the coefficients when increasing the exponent, Newton's binomial formula is used. Through this discovery, the scientist came to his other important discovery - the expansion of a function into an infinite series, later called the Newton-Leibniz formula.
2. Algebraic curve of 3rd order. Newton proved that for any cube (algebraic curve) it is possible to select a coordinate system in which it will have one of the types indicated by him, and also divided curves into classes, genera and types.
3. Differential and integral calculus. Newton's main analytical achievement was the expansion of all possible functions into power series. In addition, he created a table of antiderivatives (integrals), which was included almost unchanged in all modern textbooks of mathematical analysis. The invention allowed the scientist, in his words, to compare the areas of any figures “in half a quarter of an hour.”
4. Newton's method. Newton's algorithm (also known as the tangent method) is an iterative numerical method for finding the root (zero) of a given function.

5. Color theory. At the age of 22, as the scientist himself put it, he “received the theory of colors.” It was Newton who first divided the continuous spectrum into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The nature of color and experiments with the decomposition of white into 7 component colors, described in Newton’s “Optics,” formed the basis for the development of modern optics.

6. The law of universal gravitation. In 1686, Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation. The idea of ​​gravity had been expressed before (for example, by Epicurus and Descartes), but before Newton, no one had been able to mathematically connect the law of gravity (a force proportional to the square of the distance) and the laws of planetary motion (that is, Kepler's laws). Newton was the first to guess that gravity acts between any two bodies in the Universe, that the movement of a falling apple and the rotation of the Moon around the Earth are controlled by the same force. Thus, Newton's discovery formed the basis of another science - celestial mechanics.

7. Newton's first law: Law of inertia. The first of three laws underlying classical mechanics. Inertia is the property of a body to maintain its speed of motion unchanged in magnitude and direction when no forces act on it.

8. Newton's second law: Differential law of motion. The law describes the relationship between the force applied to the body (material point) and the subsequent acceleration.

9. Newton's third law. The law describes how two material points interact and states that the force of action is opposite in direction to the force of interaction. In addition, force is always the result of the interaction of bodies. And no matter how bodies interact with each other through forces, they cannot change their total momentum: this follows the Law of Conservation of Momentum. Dynamics based on Newton's laws is called classical dynamics and describes the motion of objects with speeds ranging from fractions of millimeters per second to kilometers per second.

10. Reflecting telescope. An optical telescope, where a mirror is used as a light-gathering element, despite its small size, provided a high-quality 40x magnification. Thanks to his invention in 1668, Newton gained fame and became a member of the Royal Society. Later, improved reflectors became the main tools of astronomers, with their help, in particular, the planet Uranus was discovered.
11. Mass. Mass as a scientific term was introduced by Newton as a measure of the amount of matter: before that, natural scientists operated with the concept of weight.
12. Newton's pendulum. A mechanical system of several balls suspended on threads in one plane, oscillating in this plane and hitting each other, was invented to demonstrate the conversion of energy of different types into each other: kinetic into potential or vice versa. The invention went down in history as Newton's Cradle.
13. Interpolation formulas. Formulas of computational mathematics are used to find intermediate values ​​of a quantity from an existing discrete (discontinuous) set of known values.
14. “Universal arithmetic.” In 1707, Newton published a monograph on algebra, and thus made a major contribution to the development of this branch of mathematics. Among the discoveries of Newton's work: one of the first formulations of the fundamental theorem of algebra and a generalization of Descartes' theorem.

One of Newton's most famous philosophical sayings:

In philosophy there can be no sovereign except truth... We must erect gold monuments to Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and write on each one: “Plato is a friend, Aristotle is a friend, but the main friend is truth.”

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in the small British village of Woolsthorpe, located in the county of Lincolnshire. A frail boy who left his mother's womb prematurely came into this world on the eve of the English Civil War, shortly after the death of his father and shortly before the celebration of Christmas.

The child was so weak that for a long time he was not even baptized. But still, little Isaac Newton, named after his father, survived and lived a very long life for the seventeenth century - 84 years.

The father of the future brilliant scientist was a small farmer, but quite successful and wealthy. After the death of Newton Sr., his family received several hundred acres of fields and woodland with fertile soil and an impressive sum of 500 pounds sterling.

Isaac's mother, Anna Ayscough, soon remarried and bore her new husband three children. Anna paid more attention to her younger offspring, and Isaac’s grandmother, and then his uncle William Ayscough, was initially involved in raising her first-born.

As a child, Newton was interested in painting and poetry, selflessly inventing a water clock, a windmill, and making paper kites. At the same time, he was still very sickly, and also extremely unsociable: Isaac preferred his own hobbies to fun games with his peers.


Physicist in his youth

When the child was sent to school, his physical weakness and poor communication skills once even caused the boy to be beaten until he fainted. Newton could not endure this humiliation. But, of course, he could not acquire an athletic physical form overnight, so the boy decided to please his self-esteem in a different way.

If before this incident he studied rather poorly and was clearly not the teachers’ favorite, then after that he began to seriously stand out in terms of academic performance among his classmates. Gradually, he became a better student, and also began to be interested in technology, mathematics and amazing, inexplicable natural phenomena even more seriously than before.


When Isaac turned 16, his mother took him back to the estate and tried to entrust some of the responsibilities of running the household to the older eldest son (Anna Ayscough’s second husband had also died by that time). However, the guy did nothing but construct ingenious mechanisms, “swallow” numerous books and write poetry.

The young man's schoolteacher, Mr. Stokes, as well as his uncle William Ayscough and acquaintance Humphrey Babington (part-time member of Trinity College Cambridge) from Grantham, where the future world-famous scientist attended school, persuaded Anna Ayscough to allow her gifted son to continue his studies. As a result of collective persuasion, Isaac completed his studies at school in 1661, after which he successfully passed the entrance exams to Cambridge University.

Beginning of a scientific career

As a student, Newton had the status of "sizar". This meant that he did not pay for his education, but he had to perform various tasks at the university, or provide services to wealthier students. Isaac bravely withstood this test, although he still extremely disliked feeling oppressed, was unsociable and did not know how to make friends.

At that time, philosophy and natural science were taught in the world-famous Cambridge, although at that time the world had already been shown the discoveries of Galileo, the atomic theory of Gassendi, the bold works of Copernicus, Kepler and other outstanding scientists. Isaac Newton greedily absorbed all the possible information on mathematics, astronomy, optics, phonetics and even music theory that he could find. At the same time, he often forgot about food and sleep.


Isaac Newton studies the refraction of light

The researcher began his independent scientific activity in 1664, compiling a list of 45 problems in human life and nature that had not yet been solved. At the same time, fate brought the student together with the gifted mathematician Isaac Barrow, who began working in the college’s mathematics department. Subsequently, Barrow became his teacher, as well as one of his few friends.

Having become even more interested in mathematics thanks to a gifted teacher, Newton performed the binomial expansion for an arbitrary rational exponent, which became his first brilliant discovery in the mathematical field. That same year, Isaac received his bachelor's degree.


In 1665-1667, when the plague, the Great Fire of London and the extremely costly war with Holland swept through England, Newton settled briefly in Woesthorpe. During these years, he directed his main activity towards the discovery of optical secrets. Trying to figure out how to rid lens telescopes of chromatic aberration, the scientist came to the study of dispersion. The essence of the experiments that Isaac carried out was in an effort to understand the physical nature of light, and many of them are still carried out in educational institutions.

As a result, Newton came to a corpuscular model of light, deciding that it can be considered as a stream of particles that fly out from a certain light source and carry out linear motion to the nearest obstacle. Although such a model cannot lay claim to ultimate objectivity, it nevertheless became one of the foundations of classical physics, without which more modern ideas about physical phenomena would not have appeared.


Among those who like to collect interesting facts, there has long been a misconception that Newton discovered this key law of classical mechanics after an apple fell on his head. In fact, Isaac systematically walked towards his discovery, which is clear from his numerous notes. The legend of the apple was popularized by the then authoritative philosopher Voltaire.

Scientific fame

At the end of the 1660s, Isaac Newton returned to Cambridge, where he received master's status, his own room to live, and even a group of young students for whom the scientist became a teacher. However, teaching was clearly not the gifted researcher’s forte, and attendance at his lectures was noticeably poor. At the same time, the scientist invented a reflecting telescope, which made him famous and allowed Newton to join the Royal Society of London. Many amazing astronomical discoveries have been made through this device.


In 1687, Newton published perhaps his most important work, a work entitled “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.” The researcher had published his works before, but this one was of paramount importance: it became the basis of rational mechanics and all mathematical natural sciences. It contained the well-known law of universal gravitation, the three hitherto known laws of mechanics, without which classical physics is unthinkable, key physical concepts were introduced, and the heliocentric system of Copernicus was not questioned.


In terms of the mathematical and physical level, “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” was an order of magnitude higher than the research of all scientists who worked on this problem before Isaac Newton. There was no unproven metaphysics with lengthy reasoning, groundless laws and unclear formulations, which was so common in the works of Aristotle and Descartes.

In 1699, while Newton was working in administrative positions, his world system began to be taught at the University of Cambridge.

Personal life

Women, neither then nor over the years, showed much sympathy for Newton, and throughout his life he never married.


The death of the great scientist occurred in 1727, and almost all of London gathered for his funeral.

Newton's laws

  • The first law of mechanics: every body is at rest or remains in a state of uniform translational motion until this state is corrected by the application of external forces.
  • The second law of mechanics: the change in momentum is proportional to the applied force and occurs in the direction of its influence.
  • The third law of mechanics: material points interact with each other along a straight line connecting them, with forces equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
  • Law of Gravity: The force of gravitational attraction between two material points is proportional to the product of their masses multiplied by the gravitational constant, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between these points.


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