Sir Isacc Newton

Who was Sir Isaac Newton?

Sir Isaac Newton is one of the greatest scientists who have ever lived. Born in 1642 Isaac Newton had a lasting impact on astronomy, physics, and mathematics. His father died when he was very young and so Newton had a difficult childhood. His mother remarried when he was just three, and he was then sent to live with his grandparents. After his stepfather died, his mother brought him home to Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire, where she wanted him to become a farmer. However an uncle noticed how clever he was and he eventually made it to Trinity College in Cambridge.
Many of his great ideas came in 1665-66, when he spent time back at Woolsthorpe while Cambridge was closed because of the plague. Among his many achievements were the invention of the reflecting telescope, the basic design behind all large telescopes used today; the invention of some mathematics known as calculus, which is very useful in science today; the discovery of the three laws of motion; and the development of the law of universal gravitation: the theory that all objects fall at the same rate without air resistance.
When still in his mid-twenties, he was named Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post now held by Stephen Hawking.

He died in 1727 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.