1642-1727

English Physicist and Mathematician

Sir Isaac Newton is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. His work represents a major turning point in the history of science. He synthesized the work of his predecessors Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), René Descartes (1596-1650), and others into a new understanding of the mathematical nature of the world, culminating in what has come to be known as the Scientific Revolution. Newton's major contributions include the discovery of the three laws of motion that form the basis of modern physics and the law of gravitation, the development of infinitesimal calculus, and the beginning of modern physical optics.

Newton had a troubled childhood. His father, an illiterate farmer, died before he was born, and he was raised by his grandmother after his mother married a man whom Isaac hated. These early...