A World Without Mathematices

Who would have thought that a tiny baby would one day revolutionize mathematics, optics and physics? His accomplishments would lay the foundations of the modern scientific world. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day 1642 in England. He was a premature baby and born to a poor farming family. Before Newton was born his dad died, and when he was three his mother remarried. She sent Isaac to be cared for by his grandmother. Then when he was eight years old he went to lodge with the local apothecary and became fascinated with chemicals. During his childhood he was somewhat sickly, so he didn’t join the other children in games. Instead he amused himself by building mechanical toys such as wooden clocks, sundials, and mouse-powered flour mills for the apothecarist’s daughter. He also read a lot and kept a journal of his observations. Later in life Newton never married nor are there any records of a female friend. It appears that the only love interest was the daughter of the pharmacist.

Isaac Newton began his schooling in the village, and was later sent to a grammar school where he has the top student. He entered Cambridge University in 1661 to study theology, but later switched the mathematics. He did a lot of his mathematic works here. He paid for his college by waiting tables and cleaning rooms for the faculty and wealthier students. Newton finished his degree in 1664. He wanted to pursue higher education, but was forced to leave due to the bubonic plague that swept across Europe and closed the school. Newton spent the next eighteen months in his childhood hometown of Woolsthorpe. He spent the majority of this time doing the fundamental thinking for all his subsequent work on gravitation and optics and developed for his own use his system of calculus.

In 1667 Newton returned to Cambridge to work in alchemy. However after reading Nicolas Mercator’s book on methods for dealing with infinite series, he became interested in mathematics. Newton immediately wrote a treatise call De Analysi which discussed his own wider ranging results. Professor Isaac Barrow brought his treatise to the attention of the European mathematics community and Newton’s reputation was made. Shortly thereafter, Barrow left his position at Cambridge and Newton replaced him as Chair.

Newton’s most noted scientific achievements are the invention, design and construction of a reflecting telescope. He personally ground the mirror, built the tube, and even created the tools in order to make to telescope. This was a huge advance in the telescope. The use of the mirror gave Newton’s telescope a much sharper image than