1642-1727

English mathematician and physicist who, independent of Gottfried Leibniz, invented the calculus. Newton's contribution to physics was perhaps more influential than that of any other person in history. His shared, though bitterly contested, discovery of the calculus ranks as one of the greatest human intellectual achievements of all time. Using calculus, Newton developed his theories of motion, which are the underpinnings of Newtonian physics, still used to determine many important facts about the solar system, the universe, and the behavior of objects virtually anywhere.