Biography of Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) was an English mathematician, physicist and astronomer, and one of the greatest scientists of all time. He formulated the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, developed calculus, and explained the nature of light and colour. His book Principia (1687) is a landmark in the history of science. This Isaac Newton biography covers his birth, family, education, discoveries, later life, death, awards, timeline and interesting facts, with practice questions and FAQs for students and exams.

Isaac Newton Biography at a Glance (Quick Facts)

Who Was Isaac Newton?

Isaac Newton was an English scientist who changed our understanding of the universe. He showed that the same laws of nature govern the fall of an apple and the motion of the Moon and planets. His work formed the base of classical physics, which is still used to build bridges, aircraft and spacecraft.

Isaac Newton Early Life and Family

Birth and Childhood

Newton was born on 25 December 1642 (4 January 1643 by the modern calendar) at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, three months after the death of his father, a farmer also named Isaac. He was a small and weak baby. When he was three, his mother Hannah married Reverend Barnabas Smith and moved away, leaving Isaac with his grandmother. He felt this abandonment deeply, and became a shy and lonely child. After Smith died in 1653, his mother returned with three half-siblings.

Schooling

He studied at the King’s School in Grantham, where he lived with an apothecary. He liked to build models such as sundials, windmills and kites, and made notebooks full of experiments. His mother wanted him to manage the family farm, but he was not interested. His uncle and a school headmaster persuaded her to send him to university.

Isaac Newton Education

Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661 as a subsizar, a student who worked to pay his fees. He studied the works of Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler and was strongly influenced by them. He took his BA degree in 1665.

The Plague Years (1665–1667)

In 1665 the university was closed because of the Great Plague, and Newton returned to Woolsthorpe. In these two years of quiet study he made some of his greatest discoveries, laying the foundations for calculus, the theory of light and colour, and the law of gravitation. This period is often called his annus mirabilis (miracle years). The famous story of an apple falling from a tree, which made him think about gravity, comes from this time. Whether an apple actually struck his head is a legend, but he himself told the story of watching an apple fall.

Lucasian Professor

He returned to Cambridge and became a fellow of Trinity in 1667. In 1669 his teacher Isaac Barrow resigned the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics in his favour, and Newton became the professor at the age of 26. He held this post until 1701. In 1668 he built the first practical reflecting telescope, which used a mirror instead of a lens and was presented to the Royal Society in 1671.

Newton’s Discoveries in Optics

Using a glass prism, Newton showed that white light is made of many colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) and that a second prism can combine them back into white light. This went against the belief that prisms add colour to light. His results were published in the book Opticks (1704).

The Principia (1687)

With encouragement and financial help from the astronomer Edmond Halley, Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687. The book, written in Latin, set out the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.

Using these laws, Newton explained the orbits of planets, the tides and the motion of comets, and showed that Kepler’s laws followed from gravity.

Calculus and the Dispute with Leibniz

Newton developed a mathematical method he called the method of fluxions, now called calculus, in the 1660s. The German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz developed it independently and published first, in 1684. A bitter dispute followed over who invented calculus. Today both are credited, and the notation of Leibniz is the one in common use. Newton also generalised the binomial theorem and studied infinite series.

Later Career: Parliament, Mint and Royal Society

• Member of Parliament for Cambridge University in 1689–90 and 1701–02.
• Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696 and Master of the Mint from 1699 until his death; he reformed the coinage and punished counterfeiters.
• President of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death in 1727.
• Knighted by Queen Anne in 1705, becoming the first scientist to be knighted for his work.

Other Interests

Newton wrote more on alchemy and Bible studies than on physics. He studied the prophecies and the chronology of ancient kingdoms, and he held private religious beliefs that differed from the Church of England. He also had a long quarrel with Robert Hooke about light and gravity, and a rivalry with Leibniz.

How Did Isaac Newton Die? (Death Reason)

Newton died in his sleep on 20 March 1727 (31 March in the modern calendar) at Kensington, London, at the age of 84, after suffering from a kidney (bladder) stone illness. He was given a state funeral and was buried in Westminster Abbey, a rare honour for a scientist. He never married and had no children.

Isaac Newton Awards and Honours

• Fellow (1672) and later President of the Royal Society.
• Knighthood in 1705.
• The SI unit of force is named the newton (N) in his honour.
• Buried in Westminster Abbey, with a monument.

Isaac Newton’s Legacy

The poet Alexander Pope wrote an epitaph for Newton, saying that nature was in darkness until God said “Let Newton be” and there was light. Newton’s laws remained the basis of physics until Einstein’s relativity and quantum mechanics showed their limits at very high speeds and very small scales. Newton himself said that he had seen further because he stood on the shoulders of giants.

Interesting Facts About Isaac Newton

• He was born in the year that Galileo died (1642).
• He was a premature and tiny baby, small enough, it was said, to fit in a quart mug.
• He made the first reflecting telescope.
• He spent more time on alchemy and theology than on physics.
• The Newton’s cradle, the Newtonian telescope and Newton’s law of cooling are all named after him.

Isaac Newton Timeline (Year-Wise History)

Isaac Newton Biography: Important Points for SSC and Other Exams

• Isaac Newton was born on 25 December 1642 at Woolsthorpe, England.
• He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge.
• The Principia (1687) set out the three laws of motion and the law of gravitation.
• He developed calculus, which Leibniz also developed independently.
• He showed that white light is made of seven colours.
• He was President of the Royal Society from 1703 to 1727 and was knighted in 1705.
• The SI unit of force, the newton, is named after him.

Practice Questions (with Answers)

Key Takeaways

• Isaac Newton was born on 25 December 1642 at Woolsthorpe, England.
• He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge.
• The Principia (1687) set out the three laws of motion and the law of gravitation.
• He developed calculus, which Leibniz also developed independently.
• He showed that white light is made of seven colours.

Isaac Newton Biography: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. Who was Isaac Newton?

Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and physicist who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation and developed calculus.

Q2. When and where was Newton born?

He was born on 25 December 1642 (4 January 1643 in the modern calendar) at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.

Q3. Who were Newton’s parents?

His father was Isaac Newton, a farmer who died before he was born, and his mother was Hannah Ayscough.

Q4. Where did Newton study?

He studied at the King’s School in Grantham and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Q5. What are Newton’s three laws of motion?

The law of inertia, F = ma, and the law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Q6. What is Newton’s law of gravitation?

Every mass attracts every other mass with a force that increases with their masses and decreases with the square of the distance.

Q7. Did an apple really fall on Newton’s head?

This is probably a legend. Newton did say that watching an apple fall made him think about gravity.

Q8. What is the Principia?

It is Newton’s book of 1687 in which he explained the laws of motion and gravitation.

Q9. Who invented calculus?

Newton and Leibniz developed it independently.

Q10. How did Newton die?

He died in his sleep on 20 March 1727 (31 March in the modern calendar) at the age of 84, after an illness related to a bladder stone.

Q11. Where is Newton buried?

In Westminster Abbey, London.

Q12. Did Newton marry?

No. He never married.