Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton

                 Sir Isaac Newton PRS [4 January  1643 -31 march 1727(OS:25 December 1642 1642-20 march 1722)] was an English Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural  philosopher , alchemist, and theologian, and is considered by many scholars and member of the general  public to be one of the most influential people in human history. His philosophiae naturalis Principia mathematica (Latin for “Mathematical principals of Natural philosophy “ usually called the principia),Published in 1687,is probably the most important scientific book ever written. It lays the groundwork  for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motions of objects on earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws, by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation; thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

            Newton build the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour  based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colours that form the visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.

            In mathematics, Newton sheres the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of differential  and integral calculus. He also demonstrated the generalized binomial theorem, developed Newton’s method for approximating the roots of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.