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Newton short message. The great mathematician Isaac Newton: a biography of the inventor of the principles of natural philosophy

An Englishman who is generally considered by many to be the greatest scientist of all times and peoples. Born into a family of small estate nobles in the vicinity of Woolsthorpe (Lincolnshire, England). He did not find his father alive (he died three months before the birth of his son). Having remarried, the mother left the two-year-old Isaac in the care of his grandmother. Many researchers of his biography attribute the peculiar eccentric behavior of an already adult scientist to the fact that until the age of nine, when the death of his stepfather followed, the boy was completely deprived of parental care.

For a while, young Isaac studied the wisdom of agriculture at a trade school. As is often the case with later great men, there are still many legends about his eccentricities in that early period of his life. So, in particular, they say that once he was sent to graze to guard cattle, which safely dispersed in an unknown direction, while the boy sat under a tree and enthusiastically read a book that interested him. Like it or not, but the teenager's craving for knowledge was soon noticed - and sent back to the Grantham gymnasium, after which the young man successfully entered Trinity College, Cambridge University.

Newton quickly mastered the curriculum and moved on to studying the works of the leading scientists of the time, in particular the followers of the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650), who held a mechanistic view of the universe. In the spring of 1665, he received his bachelor's degree - and then the most incredible events in the history of science happened. In the same year, the last bubonic plague broke out in England, the tolling of funeral bells was increasingly heard, and the University of Cambridge was closed. Newton returned to Woolsthorpe for almost two years, taking with him only a few books and his remarkable intelligence to boot.

When the University of Cambridge reopened two years later, Newton had already (1) developed differential calculus, a separate branch of mathematics, (2) outlined the foundations of modern color theory, (3) derived the law of universal gravitation, and (4) solved several mathematical problems that had come before him. no one could decide. As Newton himself said, “In those days I was in the prime of my inventive powers, and Mathematics and Philosophy have never since captivated me as much as they did then.” (I often ask my students, telling them once again about Newton's achievements: “What you did you manage to do it during the summer holidays?”)

Shortly after returning to Cambridge, Newton was elected to the Academic Council of Trinity College, and a statue of him still adorns the university church. He gave a course of lectures on color theory, in which he showed that color differences are explained by the main characteristics of the light wave (or, as they now say, wavelength) and that light has a corpuscular nature. He also designed a mirror telescope, an invention that brought him to the attention of the Royal Society. Long-term studies of light and colors were published in 1704 in his fundamental work "Optics" ( Optics).

Newton's advocacy of the "wrong" theory of light (at that time wave representations dominated) led to a conflict with Robert Hooke ( cm. Hooke's Law), head of the Royal Society. In response, Newton proposed a hypothesis that combined corpuscular and wave concepts of light. Hooke accused Newton of plagiarism and made claims of priority in this discovery. The conflict continued until Hooke's death in 1702, and made such a depressing impression on Newton that he withdrew from intellectual life for six. However, some psychologists of that time explain this by a nervous breakdown that worsened after the death of his mother.

In 1679, Newton returned to work and gained fame by investigating the trajectories of the planets and their satellites. As a result of these studies, also accompanied by disputes with Hooke about priority, the law of universal gravitation and Newton's laws of mechanics, as we now call them, were formulated. Newton summarized his research in the book "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" ( Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica), presented to the Royal Society in 1686 and published a year later. This work, which marked the beginning of the then scientific revolution, brought Newton worldwide recognition.

His religious views, his strong adherence to Protestantism also attracted the attention of Newton to the attention of wide circles of the English intellectual elite, and especially the philosopher John Locke (John Locke, 1632-1704). Spending more and more time in London, Newton became involved in the political life of the capital and in 1696 was appointed superintendent of the Mint. Although this position was traditionally considered a sinecure, Newton approached his work with all seriousness, considering the re-minting of English coins as an effective measure in the fight against counterfeiters. Just at this time, Newton was involved in another priority dispute, this time with Gottfreid Leibniz (1646-1716), over the discovery of differential calculus. At the end of his life, Newton produced new editions of his major works, and also served as President of the Royal Society, while holding a lifetime position as Director of the Mint.

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Biography of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Short biography:

Education: Cambridge university

Place of Birth: Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Place of death: Kensington, Middlesex, England, Kingdom of Great Britain

- English astronomer, physicist, mathematician: biography with photo, ideas and classical physics of Newton, the law of universal gravitation, three laws of motion.

Sir was an English physicist and mathematician from a poor farming family. His short biography began December 25, 1642 at Woolsthorpe near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Newton was a poor farmer and was eventually sent to Trinity College at the University of Cambridge for training as a preacher. While studying at Cambridge, Newton pursued his personal interests and studied philosophy and mathematics. He received his bachelor's degree in 1665 and was later forced to leave Cambridge as it was closed due to the plague. He returned in 1667 and was admitted to the fraternity. Isaac Newton received his master's degree in 1668.

Newton is considered one of the greatest scientists in history. In the course of his brief biography, he made significant investments in many branches of modern science. Unfortunately, the famous story of Newton and the apple is largely based on fiction rather than real events. His discoveries and theories laid the foundation for further progress in science since that time. Newton was one of the founders of the mathematical branch, which was referred to as calculus. He also unraveled the riddle of light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and with their help created the law of universal gravitation. Newton's laws of motion are among the most fundamental natural laws in classical mechanics. In 1686, Newton described his own discoveries in his Principia Mathematica. Newton's three laws of motion, when unified, underlie all interactions of force, matter, and motion, beyond those involving relativity and quantum effects.

Newton's first law of motion is the Law of Inertia. In short, it lies in the fact that an object at rest tends to remain in this state until it is affected by an external force.

Newton's second law of motion states that there is a relationship between unbalanced forces acting on a particular object. As a result, the object accelerates. (In other words, force equals mass times acceleration, or F = ma).

Newton's third law of motion, also referred to as the principle of action and reaction, describes that absolutely for every action there is an equivalent response. After a severe nervous breakdown in 1693, Newton withdrew from his own studies to seek a governorship in London. In 1696 he became rector of the Royal Mint. In 1708 Newton was elected Queen Anne. He is the first scientist to be so honored for his work. From that moment on, he was known as Sir Isaac Newton. The scientist devoted much of his time to theology. He wrote a large number of prophecies and predictions about subjects that were of interest to him. In 1703 he was chosen to be President of the Royal Society and was re-elected every year until his death on March 20, 1727.

Sir Isaac Newton is an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, creator of classical mechanics, who made the greatest scientific discoveries in the history of mankind.

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 (according to the Gregorian calendar) in the village of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire. He received his name in honor of his father, who died 3 months before the birth of his son. Three years later, Isaac's mother, Anna Ayskow, remarried. Three more children were born in the new family. And Isaac Newton was taken in by his uncle, William Ayscough.

Childhood

The house where Newton was born

Ros Isaac closed and silent. He preferred reading to socializing with his peers. He liked to make technical toys: kites, windmills, water clocks.

At the age of 12, Newton began to attend school in Grantham. He lived at that time in the house of the pharmacist Clark. Perseverance and diligence soon made Newton the best student in the class. But when Newton was 16 years old, his stepfather died. Isaac's mother brought him back to the estate and assigned him household duties. But this did not please Newton at all. He did little housekeeping, preferring reading to this boring occupation. One day, Newton's uncle, finding him with a book in his hands, was amazed to see that Newton was solving a mathematical problem. Both the uncle and the school teacher convinced Newton's mother that such a capable young man should continue his studies.

Trinity College

Trinity College

In 1661, 18-year-old Newton was enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge University as a student sizer (sizar). Such students were not charged tuition fees. They had to pay for their education by doing various jobs at the University or serving rich students.

In 1664, Newton passed his exams, became a student-scholar (scholars) and began to receive a scholarship.

Newton studied, forgetting about sleep and rest. Studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, phonetics, music theory.

In March 1663, the department of mathematics was opened at the college. It was headed by Isaac Barrow, a mathematician, future teacher and friend of Newton. In 1664 Newton discovered binomial expansion for an arbitrary rational exponent. This was Newton's first mathematical discovery. Newton would later discover mathematical method of expanding a function into an infinite series. At the end of 1664 he received a bachelor's degree.

Newton studied the works of physicists: Galileo, Descartes, Kepler. Based on their theories, they created universal system of the world.

Newton's program phrase: "In philosophy there can be no sovereign, except for truth ...". Isn't that where the famous expression came from: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer"?

Years of the Great Plague

The years from 1665 to 1667 were the period of the Great Plague. Classes at Trinity College ended and Newton left for Woolsthorpe. He took all his notebooks and books with him. In these difficult "plague years" Newton did not stop doing science. Through various optical experiments, Newton proved that white is a mixture of all colors of the spectrum. Law of gravity- this is Newton's greatest discovery, made by him in the "plague years". Newton finally formulated this law only after the discovery of the laws of mechanics. And these discoveries were published only decades later.

Scientific discoveries

Newton telescope

At the beginning of 1672, the Royal Society demonstrated reflecting telescope that made Newton famous. Newton became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1686 Newton formulated three laws of mechanics, described the orbits of celestial bodies: hyperbolic and parabolic, proved that the Sun also obeys the general laws of motion. All this was set forth in the first volume of Principia Mathematica.

In 1669 Newton's world system began to be taught at Cambridge and Oxford. Newton also becomes a foreign member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In the same year, Newton was appointed manager of the Mint. He leaves Cambridge for London.

In 1669 Newton was elected to Parliament. He stayed there for only a year. But in 1701 he was re-elected there. In the same year, Newton retired from his post as professor at Trinity College.

In 1703, Newton became president of the Royal Society and remained in this post until the end of his life.

In 1704, the monograph "Optics" was published. And in 1705 Isaac Newton was awarded the title of knight for his scientific merits. This happened for the first time in the history of England.

The famous collection of lectures on algebra, published in 1707 and called "Universal Arithmetic", marked the beginning of the birth of numerical analysis.

In the last years of his life, he wrote the "Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms", prepared a guide to comets. Newton calculated the orbit of Halley's comet very accurately.

Isaac Newton died in 1727 in Kensington near London. Buried in Westminster Abbey.

Newton's discoveries allowed mankind to make a giant breakthrough in the development of mathematics, astronomy, and physics.

Someone is able to multiply five-digit numbers in their minds. Another has difficulty counting the change in the store, but can assemble the Apocalypse machine from the garbage in the garbage heap. The third in power to derive the general formula of everything - if, of course, they remove the straitjacket from him. And sometimes people are born who are able to write a theory of optics over a cup of tea, develop methods of integral calculus at lunch, and sketch out the laws of gravity before going to bed - and all this in an era when witches were sometimes burned in the squares, and famous scientists were seriously interested in the occult.

It is difficult to know much, it is impossible to know everything. But to make great discoveries in completely different areas of fundamental knowledge and to determine the face of science for hundreds of years to come is almost a miracle. There were few people in the world whose portraits hang simultaneously in the classrooms of mathematics, physics, astronomy and cultural studies. And, perhaps, the main "messiah of science" was Sir Isaac Newton. In 2005, the Royal Society of London voted on the most influential physicist in the history of the planet. Newton was considered more significant than Einstein.

Silent and lonely

In April 1642, Isaac Newton, a prosperous but completely illiterate farmer from the small village of Woolsthorpe, married the well-educated 19-year-old Anna Ayscoe from the village of Market Overton. The happiness of the young did not last long. In October, her husband died. And exactly on Christmas, December 25, Anna gave birth to a boy. He was named after his father - Isaac. These circumstances determined the fate of scientific progress, because if Isaac the elder were alive, he would certainly have raised a farmer son.

The baby was born premature. According to the mother, the child was so small that he could fit in a quarter-quart cup. Everyone expected that he would not live even a day. However, despite this, Isaac grew up healthy and lived to be 84 years old.

Three years later, Anna married the wealthy vicar Barnaby Smith, who by that time was 63 years old. She left her son to her parents and moved in with the reverend. The second marriage of his mother "gave" Newton two half-sisters and one half-brother (Mary, Benjamin and Anna). I must say that their relationship was good - having achieved success, Isaac always helped his half-relatives.

Some researchers believe that young Newton suffered from autism. He spoke little (a quality that lasted throughout his life) and became so absorbed in his thoughts that he forgot to eat. Until the age of seven, he often “stuck” on repeating the same sentences, which, of course, did not add friends to the strange boy.

The extraordinary talents of Isaac first appeared on practical grounds. He made toys, miniature windmills, kites (flying lanterns with them and spreading the rumor about a comet around the area), made a stone sundial for his house, and also measured the strength of the wind, jumping in its direction and against it.

In 1652, Newton was sent to study at Grantham School. This town was only 5 miles from his home, but Isaac chose to leave his native walls and settled with the Grantham pharmacist - Mr. Clark.

In 1656, the vicar dies, and the widow Smith returns to the family estate. It cannot be said that Isaac was pleased with her. At the age of 19, he compiled a list of his past youthful sins, where, in particular, he indicated his intention to burn down the vicar's house along with his negligent mother. Anna belatedly decided to take part in the upbringing of her first child and decided that her son would follow in his father's footsteps. Isaac was taken out of school, and for some time he diligently dug up the fields of Lincolnshire.

The introduction to the land did not last long. Through the efforts of the Reverend William Ayscough (brother of Newton's mother and pastor of a neighboring village), English agriculture lost another bad worker. The uncle noticed the young man's scientific progress and persuaded Anna to send her son to the university.

Lonely and brilliant

At first, Newton was a subsizer - in other words, he paid for his studies with housework. In the spring of 1664, he was admitted to Trinity College as a Scholar. This gave him access to the huge library of Cambridge. The young man eagerly swallowed the works of Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Descartes - the very giants on whose shoulders, in his own words, he stood in the future.

There is little information about his relationship with classmates. It can be assumed that the withdrawn Newton, who found himself in the citadel of science so adored by him, avoided the wild student life. It is known that once he changed the room due to the "violence" of a neighbor and settled next to the quiet John Wilkins.

Fascinated by optics, Newton devoted a lot of time to observing atmospheric phenomena - in particular, the halo (the ring around the Sun, for details see "MF" No. 11 (63), 2008).

It took Isaac a year to gain basic knowledge in mathematics, physics and optics. In July 1665 London was struck by a terrible plague. The number of victims was so great that the university administration sent the students home (over the next two years, Cambridge closed and opened several times).

Newton took a "sabbatical" and returned to his native Woolsthorpe. The tranquility of village life favorably affected Isaac. Noisy students did not distract him from books, so already in January 1665 he defended his bachelor's degree, and in 1668 he became a master.

It will seem strange, but Newton made the main discoveries while still a student of Cambridge. He didn't yell "Eureka!" on every corner and did not seek to popularize his achievements, so that Isaac received world fame only in adulthood.

By the age of 23, the young man had mastered the methods of differential and integral calculus, derived Newton's binomial formula, formulated the main theorem of analysis (later called the Newton-Leibniz formula), discovered the law of universal gravitation and proved that white is a mixture of colors.

All this was done with the help of brief notes in diaries. Judging by them, Newton's thoughts freely jumped from optics to mathematics and vice versa. The silence of the countryside gave him an unlimited amount of time for reflection. He himself attributed his success to the fact that he was constantly thinking.

In 1669 the plague receded. Cambridge came to life again, and Newton was appointed professor of mathematics. At that time, the mathematical sciences also meant geometry, astronomy, geography and optics, but Newton's lectures were considered boring and were not in demand among students - he often had to speak in front of empty pews.

It is interesting
  • Newton was born the year Galileo died. He never left England, and all his travels were limited to a distance of 200 km.
  • Trinity College alumni have received 31 Nobel Prizes and 5 Fields Medals (mathematics). 6 British Prime Ministers studied there.
  • The diagram of Newton's Gun was embossed on Voyager's gold plate.
  • Newton first established the oblateness of the Earth at the poles (earlier opinions were expressed that the Earth has elongated poles and is more like a lemon). The equatorial diameter of the planet is 43 km larger than at the poles. Because of this, the most distant point on the surface from the center of the Earth is not Everest, but the top of the Chimborazo volcano (Ecuador).

Mount Chimborazo.

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Biography, life story of Newton Isaac

Isaac Newton is an English-born scientist, physicist, mathematician and astronomer. Known as the author of the law of universal gravitation, various physical and mathematical theories.

Childhood and youth

Isaac Newton was born December 25, 1642 (January 4, 1643 New Style) to a farmer's family. An event that subsequently had a significant impact on the course of social development took place in the village of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. The future great scientist was born in the year when the famous Polish astronomer Galileo Galilei passed away. In addition, the first civil war in England began at this time.

Isaac's father was not destined to see his child - he died before his birth. The boy was born premature and extremely painful. Few believed in his recovery, and this was another blow to the mother. Nevertheless, Isaac not only survived, but also lived a fairly long life. Newton himself believed that this could not have happened without God's help. After all, he came out of his mother's womb around Christmas, which means he was marked with a special sign of fate.

At an early age, according to Newton's contemporaries, he differed from his peers not only in poor health, but also in isolation. The child did not like to communicate with people, he devoted most of his time to reading books. Isaac also liked to make various mechanical devices, such as a mill or a clock.

The boy needed a firm male upbringing and support, and here his mother's brother William Ayskoe turned out to be very useful. Under his patronage, the young man graduated from high school in 1661 and entered Trinity College at Cambridge University, or, as it was also called, Holy Trinity College.

The beginning of the path to glory

It can be said with certainty that it was during this period that Newton's mighty scientific spirit began to take shape, those qualities that allowed him to soon become famous. Even then, in this college student, one could see incredible meticulousness and the desire to get to the bottom of a phenomenon at any cost. If we add to this a real indifference to worldly glory, we would get a complete portrait of a great scientist.

CONTINUED BELOW


Before ascending to the top of world science, Isaac Newton carefully studied the works of his predecessors. , Rene Descartes, Johannes Kepler - they all inspired Newton for future scientific achievements. It is impossible not to mention also Isaac Barrow, Newton's teacher. The truth is that each of them paved their own weighty path to comprehend the mysteries of the world. Due to various circumstances, these famous scientists could not complete what they started. Newton did it for them, creating on the basis of their ideas a universal system of the world.

Researchers of Newton's work believe that he made the vast majority of his discoveries in the field of mathematics during his student years, in the period from 1664 to 1666. At the same time, the Newton-Leibniz formula, the main theorem of analysis, was born. Then Newton, by his own admission, discovered the law of universal gravitation. However, for this he should be grateful to Kepler, since this law did not appear by itself, but followed from Kepler's third law. At that time, the Newton binomial formula was derived and it was proved that the white color is nothing but a combination of other colors.

However, it took time for the world to learn about these amazing discoveries. The reason for this was the character of Newton, who was never in a hurry to show off the results of his labors.

Merit recognition

However, fame still overtook him, and the rumor about the great scientist spread far beyond the borders of his homeland.

In 1668, Newton became a master of Trinity College, and the following year he was elected professor of mathematics. During this period of his scientific activity, Newton conducted numerous experiments on optics and color theory. In addition, alchemy attracted his attention. In the Middle Ages, this occupation was considered pseudoscience, and its adherents were often persecuted. Despite this, Newton experimented with chemical elements with maniacal persistence.

Official recognition came to Isaac Newton in 1672, when he presented to the respectable London public the reflector he had invented. In other words, an optical telescope, thanks to which, over time, humanity learned about unknown galaxies.

Of course, such devices already existed, but Newton's invention was far superior to them in terms of its technical characteristics. Again, Newton created a new generation of telescopes as early as 1668. Why didn't you announce it right away? Probably because of his nature. It may well be that the scientist intended first to repeatedly test it in action, improve it if necessary, and only then “declassify”.

No one has ever created anything like this. As a result, the inventor received not only all kinds of praise, but also became a member of the Royal Society, that is, the British Academy of Sciences.

In 1696, an authoritative scientist was entrusted with looking after the Mint. Those close to the royal family were seriously concerned about the state of the country's financial system and believed that such a person would be able to restore the confidence they had lost in her. And they didn't fail. It would seem that such work had nothing to do with the scientific activities of Newton, but he plunged headlong into the work and was able to successfully carry out the monetary reform.

In 1699, Newton was promoted to Director of the Mint.

In 1703, Isaac Newton was elected president of the Royal Society. He held this post for 20 years.

Two years later he was knighted by the Queen herself. He was awarded a similar title for scientific merit, which had never happened before in the British monarchy. From now on, Isaac Newton received the prefix "sir" to his name, which ordinary citizens could not even dream of.

Private life

Almost nothing is known about her. Perhaps because science did not leave Newton time for anything else. Women did not pay any attention to the scientist, who had an ordinary appearance. True, information has reached our days about one sympathy of Isaac - Miss Storey, with whom he was friends until the end of his days. Newton left no descendants.

Sunset of life

In the final years of his life, the scientist was engaged in writing books. Shortly before his death, due to deteriorating health, he moved from the capital to Kensington, where he lived for only a couple of years. Death came to the great scientist in a dream on March 20 (March 31, New Style), 1727.