Birth: December 25,1642, Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire
Death: March 20,1727, Kensington, London - buried in Westminster Abbey
Early Influences:
- Father was a farmer who died before his birth
- Mother recognized his talents and encouraged him to get educated
- Uncle recommended that he should be sent to Trinity College, Cambridge
Education:
- Educated at Grantham
- Attended Cambridge University, 1661
- Elected a Fellow of Trinity College, 1667
- Became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
Major Accomplishments:
- Devised many solutions to contemporary problems in analytical geometry
- Invented Calculus
- Wrote the Principia which outlined the Newtonian Laws of Motion
- Elected Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge to the Convention Parliament of 1689
- Wrote Opticks in 1692
- Became Mater of the Royal Mint in 1699
- Became President of the Royal Society of London in 1703 and remained President until his death
- Knighted in 1705
Significance:
- Regarded for almost 300 years as the founder of modern physical science
- Responsible for completing the scientific revolution
- His Laws of Motion and works in mechanics are seen as among humanities greatest achievements in abstract thought
- His Principia is regarded as the greatest scientific book ever written
Contemporaries:
- Edmond Halley - English Astronomer
- Robert Hooke - English Experimental Scientist
- Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz - German Mathematician
