Biography on Sir Isaac Newton PRS.
                     BIOGRAPHY 
ON SIR ISAAC 
NEWTON PRS
Introduction
• Isaac Newton is best known for his theory 
about the law of gravity, but his “Principia 
Mathematica” (1686) with its three laws 
of motion greatly influenced the 
Enlightenment in Europe. 
Source: www.history.com 2
Early Life
• Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 
1643, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, 
England. 
• The son of a farmer who died three 
months before he was born, Newton 
spent most of his early years with his 
maternal grandmother after his mother 
remarried. 
Source: www.history.com 3
Education
• His education was interrupted by a failed 
attempt to turn him into a farmer, and he 
attended the King’s School in Grantham 
before enrolling at the University of 
Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661.
Source: www.history.com 4
Telescope and Studies 
on Light
• Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 
and was elected a minor fellow. 
• He constructed the first reflecting 
telescope in 1668, and the following year 
he received his Master of Arts degree and 
took over as Cambridge’s Lucasian 
Professor of Mathematics.
Source: www.history.com 5
Experiments with 
Refraction
• Through his experiments with refraction, 
Newton determined that white light was a 
composite of all the colors on the 
spectrum, and he asserted that light was 
composed of particles instead of waves.
Source: www.history.com 6
Isaac Newton and the 
Law of Gravity
• In 1684, English astronomer Edmund 
Halley paid a visit to the secluded 
Newton. 
• Upon learning that Newton had 
mathematically worked out the elliptical 
paths of celestial bodies, Halley urged 
him to organize his notes. 
Source: www.history.com 7
Principia
• “Principia” propelled Newton to stardom 
in intellectual circles, eventually earning 
universal acclaim as one of the most 
important works of modern science. 
• His work was a foundational part of the 
European Enlightenment.
Source: www.history.com 8
Founder of Calculus
• The debate over Newton’s claims to 
originating the field of calculus exploded 
into a nasty dispute. 
• Newton had developed his concept of 
“fluxions” in the mid 1660s to account for 
celestial orbits, though there was no 
public record of his work. 
Source: www.history.com 9
Death of Isaac Newton
• Having never married, Newton spent his 
later years living with his niece at 
Cranbury Park near Winchester, England. 
• He died in his sleep on March 31, 1727 
and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Source: www.history.com 1
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Scientific Revolution
• A giant even among the brilliant minds that 
drove the Scientific Revolution, Newton is 
remembered as a transformative scholar, 
inventor and writer. 
• He eradicated any doubts about the 
heliocentric model of the universe by 
establishing celestial mechanics, his 
precise methodology giving birth to what is 
known as the scientific method.
Source: www.history.com 1
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