SIR ISAAC NEWTON

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

 Born in the same year of Galileo’s death.
 Orphan since birth. Newton was born three months
after the death of his father
 Grew up with his grandmother.
 he was a small child; his said that he could have fit
inside a quart mug (≈ 1.1 litres).
 he never married, being highly engrossed in his
studies and work.
Biography
 At the age of 18, his mother attempted to make a
farmer of him.
 In 1661, he was admitted in Trinity College,
Cambridge as a sizar.
 He read the books of Copernicus, Kepler & Galileo.
 1669, he became a professor of mathematics.
 (1670-1672) he taught Optics.
 1687, he returned back to mechanics.
 1704, back to calculus.
Biography
 Newton was also a member of the Parliament of
England from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but
according to some accounts his only comments were to
complain about a cold draught in the chamber and
request that the window be closed.
 In 1696, Newton moved to London to take up the post
of warden of the Royal Mint.
 1701, retired from Cambridge.
 Newton was made President of the Royal Society in
1703 and an associate of the French Academy of
Sciences.
Mathematics Achievements
 In 1704, developed infinitesimal calculus. (Leibniz 1684)
 Newton is generally credited with:
 The generalised binomial theorem, valid for any exponent.
 He discovered Newton's identities, Newton's method
 classified cubic plane curves (polynomials of degree three in
two variables)
 made substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences
 was the first to use fractional indices
 He approximated partial sums of the harmonic
series by logarithms
 was the first to use power series with confidence and to revert
power series.
Optics (1670-1672)
Components of visible light
 Isaac Newton showed that
by shining white light through
a glass prism it could be
separated back into its
different wavelengths.
 and that a lens and a second
prism could recompose the
multicolored spectrum into
white light.
 Newton’s color disk
Reflection Telescope
 In 1668, he was able to produce
the first reflecting telescope.
 It is known as Newtonian
Telescope.
 It has many advantages compared
to the refracting telescope.
Weightlessness

 More than 200 years later, his ideas were put in

action.
Universal Law of Gravity

m1m2
F
d2
m1m2
F G 2
d
G  6.67 10 11 m 3 / kg.s

• This law works all over the universe.

• G was determined experimentally by Cavendish in 1797-
1798
Newton’s Laws of Motion (1687)
The Law of Inertia:
 In the absence of external forces, when viewed from

an inertial reference frame, an object at rest

remains at rest and an object in motion continues in
motion with a constant velocity (that is, with a
constant speed in a straight line).
Newton’s 2nd Law
 the acceleration of an object is directly proportional
to the net force acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass.
Newton’s 3rd Law
 If two objects interact, the force F12 exerted by
object 1 on object 2 is equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction to the force F21 exerted by
object 2 on object 1.