Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time. He is

best-known for his discovery of the law of universal gravitation and the

laws of motion. Much of modern science is based on the understanding and

use of his laws.

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, 1642, in the small English

town of Woolsthorpe. His father, a farmer, died shortly before Isaac was

born. When the boy was three years old, his mother remarried and moved to

another town. Isaac stayed on at the farm in Woolsthorpe with his

grandmother. After attending small country school, he was sent at the age

of twelve to the Kings School in the near by town of Grantham.

At first Isaac was a poor student. He cared little for school work,

perferring to paint, make kites, write in notebooks, or invent toys. He

made no friends. Silent and dreamy, he was at the bottom of his class.

Oddly, it was a savage kick by a school bully that caused Newton's great

mind to awaken. The mild, dreamy boy flew into a rage and beat the other

boy thoroughly. Isaac determined to beat the bully in school work as well.

Soon Isaac was at the head of his class.

In 1656 Newton's stepfather died. His mother returned to

Woolsthorpe to take care of the farm left by Newton's father. But she could

not manage the farm by herself. Isaac was taken out of school and brought

home to help her.

As a farmer, Newton proved to be a dismal failure. He neglected the

necessary chores and thought only of books to study and mechanical things

to make. There are many stories about him at that time that show how absent

minded he was becoming. One day while he was leading a horse, the animal

slipped its bridle and ran away. Isaac continued walking home with the

empty bridle, unaware that the horse was gone.

When an idea got into Newton's head, he could think of nothing else.

Once, during a storm, his mother sent him to shut the barn doors to keep

them from being torn off. Half an hour later she went to see what was keep

the boy so long. He had forgotten all about the barn doors. They were riped

off the hinges, and Newton was jumping again and again from an open window

to the ground. Each time, he marked the spot where he landed. Newton was

trying to measure the force of the wind. when the gusts were strong, hes

jumps were longer than when the wind was weaker.Realizing that her son was

simply not suited to farm life, Newton's mother sent him back to Kings

School. He graduated in 1661.

When he was 18 years old, Newton went to Trinity College in

Cambridge University. He quickly proved to his teachers that he was no

ordinary student. He read all the books he could get, especially those on

mathematics and physics. These interested him the most. His professors were

amazed to find that Newton knew about certain subjects even before he was

taught. the young man has mastered the subjects by himself.

In 1665, when Newton was only 25 years old, he worked out a basic

formula in Mathematics that has been used ever since. Today it is called

the Binomial Theroem.

That same year, 1665, Isaac graduated from Trinity College. He

wanted