On January 4, 1643, the year following the death of Galileo, and one century after the publication of Copernicus’ de Revolutionibus, a new star of the brightest magnitude entered the cosmos. Isaac Newton, later regarded by historians of mathematics as one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time, was born on a farm in the small hamlet of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He began life as a premature baby–so small that he was not expected to survive. His father had died 3 months prior, and within 3 years, his mother Hannah remarried and moved into the residence of her new husband, Reverend Barnabas Smith.
Since the Reverend had no interest in adopting the fledgling Isaac, the young lad was to be raised by his maternal grandparents Ayscough, who resided at the farm and sent him to local dayschools. Deprived of a mother and father as well as siblings with whom he could bond, young Isaac was isolated and lonely. Historical records indicate that he became petulant, neurotic, and devoid of the social skills that build friendships.
In August 1653, when Isaac was 10 years old, Reverend Smith died, and Hannah returned to the Woolsthorpe farm, bringing a son and two daughters that the Reverend had fathered. Isaac’s reunion with his mother lasted less than 2 years, before Isaac was sent to live with apothecary William Clarke, so he could attend the grammar school in Grantham.
Adolescence is a time when our species purges those who don’t fit within the limited circle of normality. And so it was inevitable that a bully emerged to torment Isaac. One day, the harassment reached a climax when the bully delivered a vicious kick to Isaac’s stomach. Encouraged by the schoolmaster, Isaac challenged him to a fair fight. Isaac’s tenacity enabled him to prevail over the larger boy and Isaac emerged triumphant.
After this confidence-building conquest, Isaac took a new interest in his studies and soon moved to the top of the class. As his intellectual superiority became evident, resentment by his classmates increased, and Newton became withdrawn. While at Grantham, he spent most of his time alone, creating wooden models and mechanical devices from the stipend his mother provided.
In June 1661, at age 18, Newton traveled to Cambridge, free to pursue his intellectual interests. During the next 3 years, he developed a passion for mathematics, mastering Descartes’ analytic geometry, Viète’s algebra and Oughtred’s Clavis (Key to Mathematics) in a rapid advance to the frontiers of mathematical knowledge.
In 1664–65, the bubonic plague was sweeping across England, wiping out about 100,000 people including almost 25% of London’s population. Cambridge University, where Newton was now enrolled as a student, was closed. Isaac returned to the farm where he continued to contemplate questions about the movements of the planets, the causes of the tides and the nature of light. During the period 1665 through 1666 known as his anni mirabiles (miracle years), Isaac made advances in the study of light, spawned calculus, conceptualized his laws of motion and universal gravitation, and in the process, laid the foundations of theoretical physics.
Newton returned to Cambridge University in April 1667 and was elected a fellow of Trinity College and the following year, at the age of 25 he graduated with an MA (Master of Arts). Newton’s work was so impressive that Professor Isaac Barrow who held the Lucasian Chair, stepped aside so that Newton could fill this position as Lucasian professor at age 26. Before age 30, Newton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Although he had reached the end of his formal education at age 25, Newton continued to engage in research in a wide range of areas. In 1687 he published his observations and derivations in a treatise titled, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known today as Principia. This treatise came to be regarded by scientists in the centuries that followed as perhaps, the greatest publication in the history of science.
In deducing Kepler’s Laws from basic axioms of physics, Newton’s formidable intellect moved science from an organized taxonomy of observed phenomena to a rigorous body of knowledge with predictive capability. In essence, Newton had developed the mathematics of rocket science almost three centuries before a rocket was sent to the moon.
As copies of the Principia spread across the Channel to Europe, Newton moved from relative obscurity to demigod status. Revered as the ultimate authority in science, in 1696 at the age of 54, he was appointed Warden of the British Mint. In 1703, he was elected President of the Royal Society, and two years later, was knighted by Queen Anne. Sir Isaac Newton lived another 22 years, dying on March 27, 1727 in his eighty-fifth year, having received all the honors that could be bestowed on a human being. When praised for his remarkable achievements, he paid tribute to Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler and others with the acknowledgement, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
More information on Isaac Newton can be accessed at: Intelligence, IQ & Perception: Chapter 1 Intelligence, IQ & Perception: Chapter 1
