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Hao Huang
Professor Gifford
English 114B
6 May 2014
The Father of Physics and Calculus
From the planes that carry people from London to Tokyo, to the space shuttles that
launches from Cape Canaveral, there is a lot of science that revolves around it. Scientists have
put in a lot of effort in order to ensure the safety of the passengers and take humanity to its limits.
Science has evolved a lot since the scientific revolution when scientists were just trying to
challenge the ideas of the Church. Through this era emerged Sir Isaac Newton and his many
theories and laws. Sir Isaac Newton, an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and
philosopher, enlightened the minds of humankind with his many theories and books. This
pioneer of science has a vital role in the creation of the world that we live in today through his
contribution to the subjects of mathematics and physics.
Born on Christmas day in 1642, Isaac Newton was premature. The fatherless infant was
raised up in the care of his grandmother after his mother remarried when he was three. His
mother returned after eight years. When she returned, Newton was removed from school in order
to fulfill his birthright as a farmer. However, after he failed this calling, he returned to Kings
school in order to get into Trinity College, but he failed. His life takes a turn in 1661 when he
leaves for Cambridge University. During his undergraduate at Cambridge, he learned about
Aristotle and other classical authors, but Newton mastered the works of many major figures of
the scientific revolution. After receiving his bachelors degree at Cambridge, the school was
closed due to the Plague. This causes Newton to return back to Woolsthorpe. During his stay in
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Woolsthorpe, he made many discoveries, for he states, All this was in the two plague years of
the 1665 and 1666, for in those days I was in my prime of age for invention, and minded
mathematics and philosophy more than at any time since (Newton qtd. in Hatch). This was his
foundation to his publication of his book Principia. After returning to Cambridge in 1667,
Newton was elected a minor fellow at Trinity College, in which he received his Master of Arts
degree. Later in 1672 he was elected into the Royal Society, where he locked horns with some of
the societys members. In 1679, Newtons mother passed away, and Newtons response to this
was to lock himself away from the outside world to further his study in alchemical research.
During his time in solitary confinement, he came up with many theories that he later published in
Principia in 1687. After publishing this book, he fell away from math and science and got into
public affairs, which later led to his Knightship in 1705. Although Newton was at his prime, he
dominated the field of science without rival until his death on March 20, 1727. Newtons lifetime
of labor was not set to waste, because as technology advanced, his theories were later turned into
laws and his inventions impacted other discoveries as well.
To many, mathematics just isnt the subject for them. It seems too complicated with its
many formulas and long steps in solving them. However, these formulas and long steps allow a
more accurate calculation. Newton, one of the two creators of calculus, was fascinated with
mathematics during his stay at Cambridge. However, his discoveries of the Binomial Theorem
and calculus were during the Plague when he returned to Woolsthorpe. Newton discovered the
formula ( )

that would work for all values of n. This formula covered infinite series which
led to his development of calculus. With the discovery of calculus, problems such as finding the
speed of a ball that has been thrown in the air at any moment in the balls flight was able to be
answered. However, another mathematician, Gottfried Leibniz was also discovering calculus.
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This sparked a rivalry between who discovered calculus first; although Newton was given credit,
Leibniz published his work first. Moving away from that matter, this advancement in math
allowed scientists to develop vehicles that carry us to places. And not only that, it allowed
scientists to set up theoretical models of situations. With this new discovery, mathematicians and
scientists were able to enter into new regions of discovery.
It is known throughout history that no man can stare at the sun without glazing away
because the sunlight is just too strong. In the mid-1660, Newton became so fascinated by the
nature of light, he was willing to blind himself by staring at the sun. He also poked the sides of
his eyeball with a small knife in order to see how such activities would affect his vision. With
these experiments and numerous others, he formulated revolutionary theories about the nature of
the spectrum and the refraction of light. His most famous and main discovery in optics was that
light itself is a heterogeneous mixture of differently refrangible rays. After publishing his work
in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, he was backlashed even though he
conducted experiments to prove the discovery of a light spectrum. In the Crucial Experiment,
Newton allowed sunlight to pass through a prism and onto a white screen in a dark chamber.
Through this, he found on the screen a band of seven colors, of which consisted the same colors
that made up the rainbow. Through this he conferred that the phenomena of a rainbow is
produced when the rain droplets acts as a prism which split the sunlight. He proposed another
theory on light, the Corpuscular theory, which states that light, unlike sound, travels in a straight
line. However, he was wrong because if light would crisscross while going through a small hole,
then the image would be upside down. In his publications of The Opticks, Newton also noted that
light was made of particles and he tried to combine the particle and wave theories of light in
order to help conduct experiments in chemistry. Through all of this, he gained fame and
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recognition in the Royal Society. Also, because of Newtons study in light, it greatly influenced
the refracting telescopes making images stronger and clearer.
To further our understanding of the universe, Newton came up with three laws of motion.
In his first law, Newton states, an object at rest will stay at rest; an object in motion will remain
in motion unless acted upon by an external force. This is similar to Galileos concept of inertia
and it is often referred to as the Law of Inertia. This Law does not apply to motion on earth;
this is due to other forces such as gravity and friction. The second law states, the net force (F)
acting upon an object causes acceleration (a), with the magnitude of the acceleration directly
proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass (m). This law can be
basically summed up to:

, the sum of all forces is equal to mass times acceleration. This

is vital to every physics course because this equation is the foundation of physics. Because of
this equation, we can calculate and predict the motions of an object given the forces acting upon
it, for example, the speed of cars. Newtons third law proclaims, to every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction. This is Newtons more known law because it gives us a complete
definition of a force. As simple and obvious as this law may seem, this law helps describe the
motion involved in many circumstances. These three laws can be characterized as the foundation
of modern physics.
According to a myth, many people believe that Newton discovered gravity while sitting
under an apple tree and an apple fell on his head. The story however, goes: Newton was drinking
tea, and he observed an apple falling from a tree, from there he deduced that there must be some
form of force acting on it. His explanation of gravity was simple, what goes up must come down.
Although that is a very simple explanation, at first when Newton presented the idea, he had no
idea how to explain this phenomenon. He then came up with a universal law of gravitation.
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Newton states

; that is, that all matter is mutually attracted with a force (F)
proportional to the product of their masses (m) and inversely proportional to the square of
distance (R^2) between them. G is a constant whose value depends on the units used for mass
and distance (Hatch). To put in simpler terms, this means that everything in the universe attracts
one another. Backing up his theory, Newton explain that gravitation can be deduced from
observations of bodies on or near the earth in relation to the earth itself, the moon in relation to
the earth, the sea in relation to the moon, the planets in relation to each other, and comets in
relation to the sun. (Miller 1057). This means that all objects relate to one another with an
attraction force. The bigger the mass of an object, the stronger the gravitational attraction force,
but since gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the
two objects, further the distance means weaker gravitational force. With the Universal Law of
Gravitation, Newton earned his place in the Gravity Hall of Fame.
Although Newton is well-known for his contributions to math and science, his
masterpiece, Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, draws the attention of many
philosophers. This is because the concept of gravity and the absence of a mechanism were fairly
new. Many philosophers also wanted to examine Newtons research in order to purse knowledge
in that area. Principia, divided into three books, all are printed works on Newtons research and
experiments that backed-up his theories. In book one Newton writes about his laws of motions,
in which he thoroughly explains each law. He compares his work to the works of Galileo and
Johannes Kepler, and he further develops it into his own work. Book two was not initially
intended for Newton, but to satisfy his critics. In the book he admits that he does not understand
the nature of gravity; he just knows the math behind it. The main point of book two is Newtons
argument of the Cartesian idea, that the planets are carried around their orbits by fluid vortices.
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He then finishes off book two with the idea that his laws of motion can prove that the planets can
move in the free space without vortices. In book three, Newton goes back to his three laws of
motion to prove that that gravity is universal with his law of universal gravitation. All in all, the
Principia is the base of physics, and it helped opened doors for many other scientists. Because of
the Principia, it inspired others to use his work to apply it in their field, which led to inventions
that modernized the world we live in today.
Throughout history, Sir Isaac Newton, can be considered one of the most influential
scientists of all time. His works in physics and mathematics puts him as one of the greatest
scientist that ever lived. His life was full of mathematical and scientific accomplishments. He
derived the law of universal gravitation with the help of his own three laws of motion. In the
field of optics, he was able to prove that light was made of several colors arranged in a spectrum
and that light is actually made up of waves. Even during his days away from college, due to the
Plague, he was able to come up with the concept of modern calculus. Also, during his time away
from school, he was able to discover and calculate the force of gravity. Because of his work,
Newton set the path for many great scientists in both the fields of mathematics and physics. For
example, the basic knowledge of calculus helped Einstein to discover theory of relativity and
nuclear fission. In the end, when we look back at Newtons discoveries, we should appreciate
and realize that he is the core foundation of modern science. He opened the eyes of humankind,
and showed them a whole new world with endless possibilities. Even though his work is over
three hundred years old, it is still able to help develop technology to further our understanding of
earth and the universe around us. This is the impact that Newton has left behind.

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Work Cited
Hatch, Robert. "Isaac Newton Biography - Newton's Life, Career, Work - Dr Robert A.
Hatch." Isaac Newton Biography - Newton's Life, Career, Work - Dr Robert A. Hatch.
N.p., 30 Nov. 1999. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Miller, David Marshall. Qualities, Properties, And Laws In Newtons Induction. Philosophy Of
Science 76.5 (2009): 1052-1063. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014.
Newton, Isaac. "A Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton Containing His New Theory about Light and
Colors." (Normalized Version). N.p., 19 Feb. 1671. Web. 02 May 2014.
Smith, George. "Isaac Newton." Stanford University. Stanford University, 19 Dec. 2007. Web.
02 May 2014.
Smith, George. "Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica."Stanford University.
Stanford University, 20 Dec. 2007. Web. 02 May 2014.