The Three Universal Laws of isaac Newton
Scroll down to learn more about this website and Isaac Newton himself, or click on one of the tabs above to learn about the three laws of motion, as well as how they can be applied!
Welcome to
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Childhood and Teenage Years
Born on January 4, 1643, Isaac Newton was the child of Hannah Ayscough and Isaac Newton, his father dying only three months before the child's birth. Born prematurely, Newton was described as "frail and tiny", so much so that he could, "fit inside of a quart mug". Newton grew up under the care of his grandmother, Margery, as his mother left the both of them to live with her second husband, Barnabas Smith, a reverend. At age twelve, Newton was enrolled at The King's School, Grantham, where he was taught the basic curriculum of the age, including Latin and Greek. At age twelve, his mother, having been widowed again, decided to take Newton out of school and turn him into a farmer. This proved to be a mistake, and Newton was allowed to finish his studies until the age of seventeen. After this, Newton's uncle, who was himself a graduate of Cambridge University, recommended that Newton should enroll there. The decision was made, and in 1661, Isaac Newton enrolled in Cambridge University.
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Academic Life, and the Climax of his Career
During the first three years of his education, Newton was given the normal curriculum of a Cambridge student. This education, which relied heavily on the ideas of Aristotle, was supplemented by Newton with the new works of modern Philosophers, who he found to be more enlightening about the world. In 1665, Newton himself put to paper the ideas that would form the base for modern calculus, which he would later develop in full. After an 18 month hiatus during which the university was closed due to the ravaging effects of the great plague on Europe, Newton returned to the university and joined the Fellows of the Trinity. In 1669, Newton became a professor at Cambridge, and began his new career with a series of lectures on optics, through which he espoused his ideas on the properties of light. Came 1672, Newton was recognized for his efforts and inducted as a fellow into the Royal Society. Six years later, however, Newton drew himself into seclusion after an apparent nervous breakdown, as well as the death of his mother the following year. However, This time was not wasted, and was used by Newton to further his thoughts that would later fill the pages of his magnum opus, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687.
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