It's December 25th. To quote the greatest science communicator of our time, Mr. Neil de Grasse Tyson, "On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday, Isaac Newton," who was born on this day in 1642 in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England. And so today, we celebrate the birthday of one of the most important human beings who ever graced our planet. Isaac Newton was an extraordinary ⚛️physicist and 🧮 mathematician who is credited with laying the foundation of 📐 classical mechanics and jump-starting the ⚗️scientific revolution. He believed that all of nature is governed by universal laws that can be expressed mathematically. Newton’s list of accomplishments are long and profound, and his influence will be felt forever.
Isaac's father died two months before he was born; his mother remarried when he was three. His stepfather died when Isaac was 12, and Isaac was pulled out of school to help run the family estate. Isaac seemed to show little promise in school, anyway, as his reports described him as idle and inattentive. However, Isaac soon showed that he had no talent or interest in managing an estate, either.
An uncle persuaded Isaac's mother to let him go back to 🏫 school. This time he must've shown some promise because the school's headmaster later convinced Isaac's mother to send him to University. Isaac entered Trinity College of Cambridge in 1661 at the age of 19 and began studying philosophy, science, and mathematics in earnest. Between the time Trinity College closed in 1665 due to a 😷 bubonic plague pandemic and 1667 when he returned to Cambridge, Isaac returned home, and, free to study whatever he wanted to, gobbled up all of the mathematics texts he could lay his hands on. During this time, Isaac developed calculus, the law of gravitation, and different theories on optics.
Newton is credited with the discovery of the prism (which is how a 🌈 rainbow works). At the time, scholars hotly debated the subject of whether or not color was an intrinsic property of light. Newton settled the debate when he discovered that a light ray entering a prism is split into different colors (or, wavelengths). This work led Newton's construction of the world's first practical reflecting telescopes.
Newton is probably best known, however, for his work with gravity which led him to discover the famous three laws of motion.
Law of Inertia – An object at rest remains at rest or an object in motion remains in motion until an outside force acts upon it.
Law of Acceleration – An applied force on an object is equal to the rate of change in its momentum (F=ma or Force equals mass times acceleration).
Law of Action – For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Also related to Newton's work with gravity is his work with heliocentrism. He determined that a smaller object doesn't actually orbit around a larger object, but rather the two bodies orbit around their common center of gravity. With this realization and ever-more precise measurements of the ☀️sun and planets, the heliocentric model of the 🌌 solar system has continued to become more and more accurate over the years.
Isaac Newton has unquestionably secured his place in history. He's widely regarded as one of the most important people who's ever lived. Many of his ideas still hold true and his equations are still in use today. When sending a ☄️probe to the outskirts of the solar system, NASA scientists don't rely on Einstein's relativity to work out the math – they use Newtonian physics equations.
"We build too many walls and not enough bridges."
"I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
☮️ R.I.P., Isaac… Jamiese of Pixoplanet