Isaac Newton: The Last of the Magicians

Meenakshi Singhal Junior Division NHD 2013 Individual Website

When NHD started, I knew I was going to create a website. Its interactive interface allows a multitude of components, including videos, audio, animations, and pictures. I recognized that I would be able to express my creativity and still get my point across effectively in a website, since I went to the national level with one last year. Also, technology is being used liberally in todays age, so I believe that numerous people could relate to the content in a website. Sir Isaac Newton became my topic, because Ive memorized his 3 Laws of Motion since I was seven, but I heard that he accomplished much more than that; he was the link between mysticism and reality. My research was inaugurated at the public library, where I found plenty of books like The Clockwork Universe on Newtons background and how his thoughts are still practical today. Websites by universities like MIT included explicit opinions, giving my research fuller magnitude. The database The Newton Project, where primary source papers of Newtons writings and correspondences were digitally translated, was helpful. A site called Radio Lab, which broadcasts podcasts by esteemed scientists and authors, invigorated my ideas on Newtons experiments with light and physics vividly, and I incorporated clips from it. In addition, I analyzed a variety of documentaries created on Newton. From them, I learned how to bring my project all together.. After emailing and interviewing a few professors, I realized how all-encompassing Newton is, and how we consider him in whatever we fancy.

By taking on NHD, I feel that I have been more organized, think deeper, and have more respect for my predecessors. At first, it was a challenge to keep up with the endless documents I utilized. Over time, I slowly understood how to swiftly manage my time and information. In addition, keeping my project related to this years theme encouraged me to think outside the box, to delve into and question facts or quotes I would have previously taken for granted. This gave way to a whole new page of resources and ideas. Enlightening myself about Newton, the Scientific Revolution, and whatever occurred then really impacted my perception of European history. I learned about the Bubonic Plague, Glorious Revolution, science and math, and everything in between. Now, Im still interested in the multiple transformations of thought that are continuously transpiring. Sir Isaac Newtons publication of his book the Principia is analogous to the theme Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, and Events in the sense that Newton swept away previous notions of a daunting and unpredictable universe. There were countless sorcerers and wizards before Newton, who considered comets and droughts to determine if events will happen. After reading the

Principia, everyday people, from farmers to scholars, were educated on the truths of
the motions of life, and how to employ them. The Enlightenment era is proof, with a plethora of books and lectures distributed to the public. Eventually, by Einsteins time, Newtonian physics had dominated much of science.