ISAAC NEWTON

When Isaac Newton was born the day was December 25, 1642 by the Julian calendar that was still in use in England at the time. (With the ado tion o! the "regorian calendar, the birthday o! the indi#idual many hail as the Man of the Millennium became January 4, 164$ (and by that calendar he died on %arch 2&, 1'2'(. )ewton was born in Woolsthor e, *incolnshire, a remature in!ant not e+ ected to li#e. ,is !ather (also named -saac( died three months earlier. ,is mother, ,annah .yscough )ewton, remarried when -saac was three, and le!t him with his grandmother until her second husband died when )ewton was 11. ,e attended /ing0s 1chool, "rantham, and it was assumed he would continue the !amily tradition by ta2ing u !arming. 3ut his mother decided that he should attend college. -n 1661 )ewton entered 4rinity 5ollege, 5ambridge. ,is er!ormance was unim ressi#e, but his mathematics teacher, -saac 3arrow, saw something in the lad that others missed and greatly encouraged him. 1till, )ewton too2 his degree without distinction in 1665.

During the "reat (3ubonic( 6lague o! 1665 7 66, the 8ni#ersity closed !or nearly two years. )ewton made good use o! the time. During this eriod he in#ented the method o! !lu+ions (the calculus( and disco#ered the law o! uni#ersal gra#itation. 3y 1666 he had de#elo ed early #ersions o! his laws o! motion. When he returned to 5ambridge, )ewton became a 9ellow o! 4rinity 5ollege, and too2 his master0s degree in 166:. 4he !ollowing year, 3arrow, recogni;ing that his u il was his mathematical su erior, resigned his *ucasian chair so it might go to )ewton. )ewton was greatly interested in the <uestion o! how the e!!ects o! light were roduced. 3y the end o! 16'5 he had constructed the cor uscular or emission theory, which he e+ ounded in memoirs communicated to the =oyal 1ociety.

During the year 16'6, )ewton and "ott!ried #on *eibni; corres onded about their wor2 with the e+ ansion o! series and the a lications to !inding areas and #olumes. 4he wor2 is related to today0s

integration. )ewton did not mention the calculus s eci!ically but at the end o! his second letter (>ctober 16'6( to *eibni;, he alludes to the solution o! the ?in#erse roblems o! tangents,@ and handling ma+ima and minima roblems, ?4he !oundations o! these o erations is e#ident enoughA but - cannot roceed with the e+ lanation o! it now. - ha#e re!erred to conceal it thusB 6accdae13eff 7i319n4o4qrr4s8t12vx.

)ewton0s anagram gi#es the number o! di!!erent letters in !ollowing the *atin sentenceB Data aequatione quotcunque fluentes quantitates involvente, fluxiones invenire: et vice versa 4he u0s and v0s are grou ed together totaling 12 letters, the di hthong ae is counted as a se arate character, and strangely the *atin sentence contains nine, not eight, t!s. -t translates to )ewton0s #ersion o! the !undamental theorem o! calculusB ?"i#en an e<uation in#ol#ing any number o! !luent <uantities, to !ind the !lu+ionsB and #ice #ersa.@ . arently with this code )ewton belie#ed he established his ublishing

riority. -t too2 : months !or )ewton0s second letter to reach *eibni;. -n his re ly, dated June 21, 16'', *eibni; e+ lained his methods o! drawing tangents to cur#es, and s ea2s o! his notation o! dx and d" !or the in!initesimal di!!erences between the coordinates o! two oints on a cur#e. *eibni; wrote that his a roach was ?not by !lu+ions o! lines, but by the di!!erences o! numbers.@

4he #niversal $rithmetic, which deals with algebra, theory o! e<uations, and miscellaneous roblems, contains the substance o! )ewton0s lectures during the years 16'$ to 16:$. ,e rather reluctantly allowed it to be ublished in 1'&'. -n 16:4, )ewton ga#e a series o! lectures on the laws o! motion. 3y 16:5, he had incor orated these lectures into what was to be the !irst o! three boo2s o! his master iece, the %hiloso&hiae 'aturalis %rinci&ia Mathematica 4he second boo2 o! the %rinci&ia was com leted

in 16:6, but not ublished until 16:'. 4hese might not ha#e been ublished at all had it not been !or Edmund ,alley. =obert ,oo2e, 5hristiaan ,uygens, 5hristo her Wren and ,alley had all conCectured that the !orce o! the attraction o! the sun or earth on an e+ternal obCect #aried in#ersely as the s<uare o! the distance between them. ,alley #isited )ewton in .ugust 16:4 and e+ lained that they could not deduce their !indings !rom the law o! the orbits o! the lanets. ,alley as2ed )ewton i! he could !ind out what the orbit o! a lanet would be i! the law o! attraction was that o! the in#erse s<uare. Without hesitation, )ewton said the orbit was an elli se. .s2ed how he 2new, he re lied that he had calculated it in 16'D. -t was only through ,alley0s urging that )ewton agreed to attac2 the whole roblem o! gra#itation and ledged to ublish his !indings. 4he cost o! the rinting o! the results, which ga#e the world )ewton0s law o! uni#ersal gra#itation, was borne by ,alley, who also corrected the roo!s.

-n 16D6, )ewton was a

ointed warden o! the %int and three years later to the mastershi at a

handsome salary. 4his essentially brought his scienti!ic wor2 to an end, although it was only a!ter this time that many o! his re#ious in#estigations a eared in rint. -n 16D6, )ewton resigned his *ucasian

chair at 5ambridge and mo#ed to *ondon. -n 1'&$ he was elected resident o! the =oyal 1ociety and the ne+t year his (&tics was rinted. -t contained two a endicesA the second, De )uadratura

*urvarum, ga#e a brie! descri tion o! )ewton0s method o! !lu+ions, which was described more com letely in his Methodus Differentialis (1'11(.

)ewton concei#ed o! a line as being generated by a mo#ing oint. ,e thought o! a line as a ?!lowing <uantity,@ and called it the fluent. 4he #elocity with which the line ?!lowed,@ he called its fluxion. 4o )ewton the !lu+ion o! a !luent was ?in!initely small.@ ,e then considered two 2inds o! roblems. 4he obCect o! the !irst was to !ind the !lu+ion o! a gi#en <uantity, or more generally, ?the relation o! the !luents being gi#en, to !ind the relation o! their !lu+ions.@ -n today0s language this was e<ui#alent to !inding the deri#ati#e o! a !unction. 4he obCect o! the second or in#erse method o! !lu+ions was gi#en

the !lu+ion, or some relations in#ol#ing it, to determine the !luent, or more generally ?an e<uation being ro osed e+hibiting the relation o! the !lu+ions o! <uantities, to !ind the relations o! these <uantities, or !luents, to one another.@ -n modern translation, the roblem was to !ind an antideri#ati#e o! a !unction.

1aying that )ewton in#ented calculus is a bit o! a stretch. .t the #ery least he must share the glory with the "erman genius "ott!ried Wilhelm *eibni;. )either )ewton nor *eibni; actually roduced a calculus, that is, a classi!ied collection o! rules, although *eibni; came close in his ?)o#a methodus ro ma+imis et minimis, item<ue tangentibus, <uae nec !ractas, nec irrationales <uantitates moratur, et singulare ro illis calculi genus+ (?)ew %ethod !or the "reatest and the *east, as well as tangents, which is neither im eded by !ractional nor irrational <uantities,@ 16:4(. )ewton had only in#ented ?!lu+ions@ to !ind the tangent and the radius o! cur#ature o! any oint on a cur#e that enabled him to build u his law o! uni#ersal gra#itation. )either )ewton nor *eibni; could ha#e made their disco#eries had it not been !or the earlier wor2 o! the li2es o! John )a ier, Johann /e ler, 9rancesco 5a#alieri, 3laise 6ascal, 6ierre de 9ermat, John Wallis and )ewton0s teacher -saac 3arrow. 4hey set the table at which )ewton (and *eibni;( !easted on a disco#ery whose time had come. E#en )ewton, who was not 2nown !or sharing credit, ac2nowledged in a letter to ,oo2e ?-! - ha#e seen !urther (than you and =enE Descartes( it is by standing u on the shoulders o! "iants.@

8n!ortunately, a contro#ersy de#elo ed o#er who should be credited !or the in#ention o! the in!initesimal calculus. 4he debate showed )ewton at his worst, as he and those he encouraged to do so, belittled and dismissed the contributions o! *eibni;, e#en to the e+tent o! suggesting that *eibni; was guilty o! lagiarism. 4he su orters o! the two 2e t the contro#ersy ali#e e#en a!ter their deaths. 4he

<uestion as to who had in#ented calculus became a matter o! national ride. English mathematicians so

stubbornly adhered to the wor2 o! their master that their mathematical accom lishments su!!ered in com arison with those o! mathematicians o! the continent !or a #ery long eriod therea!ter.

4he o!t7told story that )ewton claimed the idea o! the law o! gra#ity came to him when an a

le !ell on

his head is surely a myth. 1ome eo le, aware o! )ewton0s un leasant dis osition, ha#e suggested that some clod, whom the great man considered his intellectual in!erior (which included almost e#erybody(, as2ed )ewton how the idea came to him, and 1ir -saac res onded with a contem tuous answer the dull one could understand. .s )ewton was #ery secreti#e, anti7social, and did not tolerate !ools, it is more li2ely that no one would ha#e dared as2 such a <uestion, and i! one had, )ewton would not ha#e res onded to it.

.lthough he will always be remembered !or his contributions to mathematics and science, )ewton seemed to ha#e had greater interest in his studies o! alchemy, chronology and theology. ,e was a stubborn man who had to be coa+ed and caColed into ublishing the results o! his research. )o#elist .ldous ,u+ley claimed that )ewton aid !or his su reme intellect by being inca able o! !riendshi and lo#e. ,u+ley asserted that as a man )ewton was a !ailure, but as a monster he was su erb.

Quotation of the DayB ?- do not 2now what - may a ear to the worldA but to mysel! - seem to
ha#e been only li2e a boy laying on the seashore, and di#erting mysel! in now and then !inding a smoother ebble or a rettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean o! truth lay all undisco#ered be!ore me.@ 7 1ir -saac )ewton