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Happy Birthday Sir Isaac

Discussion in 'General Issues and Discussion Forum' started by Griff, Jan 4, 2010.

  1. Griff

    Griff Moderator


    Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.
    Given that hardly a day passes by on the Arena without a mention of Newtonian Physics then how could we not wish the genius (or was he a polymath?) many happy returns.

    Anyone who has used Google today has probably already seen their homage to the man - their first ever animated logo. However they are also quick to point out:

    Ian
    (clearly having a quiet day at the office...)
     
  2. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Isaac Newton

    Sir Isaac Newton FRS (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27[a]) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a natural philosopher.[7] He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His pioneering book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, consolidated many previous results and established classical mechanics.[8][9] Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus, though he developed calculus years before Leibniz.[10][11] He is considered one of the greatest and most influential scientists in history.[12][13][14][15]

    In the Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint for centuries until it was superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton used his mathematical description of gravity to derive Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes and other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the Solar System's heliocentricity.[16] He demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles. Newton's inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.

    Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum. His work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.

    Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. He refused to take holy orders in the Church of England, unlike most members of the Cambridge faculty of the day. Beyond his work on the mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in those areas remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–1690 and 1701–1702. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1699) and Master (1699–1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society (1703–1727).

    1. ^ "Fellows of the Royal Society". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015.
    2. ^ Feingold, Mordechai. Barrow, Isaac (1630–1677) Archived 29 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2009; explained further in Feingold, Mordechai (1993). "Newton, Leibniz, and Barrow Too: An Attempt at a Reinterpretation". Isis. 84 (2): 310–338. Bibcode:1993Isis...84..310F. doi:10.1086/356464. JSTOR 236236. S2CID 144019197.
    3. ^ "Dictionary of Scientific Biography". Notes, No. 4. Archived from the original on 25 February 2005.
    4. ^ Gjertsen 1986, p. [page needed]
    5. ^ Kevin C. Knox, Richard Noakes (eds.), From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 61.
    6. ^ Thony, Christie (2015). "Calendrical confusion or just when did Newton die?". The Renaissance Mathematicus. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
    7. ^ Alex, Berezow (4 February 2022). "Who was the smartest person in the world?". Big Think. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
    8. ^ Whiteside, D. T. (1991). "The Prehistory of the 'Principia' from 1664 to 1686". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 45 (1): 11–61. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1991.0002. ISSN 0035-9149. JSTOR 531520. S2CID 145338571. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
    9. ^ Gandt, F. D. (2014). Force and Geometry in Newton's Principia. Princeton University Press. pp. ix–xii. ISBN 978-1-4008-6412-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
    10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
    11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
    12. ^ Simmons, John (1997). The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present. Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-1749-0.
    13. ^ "Newton beats Einstein in polls of scientists and the public". Royal Society. 23 November 2005. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
    14. ^ "Isaac Newton". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
    15. ^ Westfall, R (2009). "Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727), natural philosopher and mathematician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20059. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    16. ^ More, Louis Trenchard (1934). Isaac Newton, a Biography. Dover Publications. p. 327.


    Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

     
  3. W J Liggins

    W J Liggins Well-Known Member

    Yes but......

    Have a look at Robert Hooke who was a huge influence on Newton although not mentioned as such in Wikipedia. Even Newton (who was an arrogant b*****d) said - in reference to Hooke - that "If I have seen a little farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants". Trouble is, Hookey sneered at self publicity and has only recently been re-discovered.

    All the best

    Bill
     
  4. The problem with Robert Hooke was that he was a scientific genius that was living at the same time and same place as the scientific and mathematical super-genius, Isaac Newton. Hooke had just as much arrogance as Newton. Hooke often times took credit for things Newton had come up, but Hooke could not come up with proof that he did, in fact, originally think of these ideas. This is probably one reason why Newton and Hooke butted heads so much. They were both actively involved in similar scientific thought processes, competing with each other, learning from each other, but with neither one willing to acknowledge the accomplishments of the other since they were so much alike.

    Yes, Robert Hooke was brilliant, but Hooke simply didn't have the math skills that Newton did. In the end, the one with better math skills, Newton, ended up becoming the more famous genius since he could very neatly show, using his self-created mathematical method (now called the Calculus), that his theories regarding planetary motion could be proved mathematically. To say that Robert Hooke "sneered at self publicity" seems unlikely also when comparing him to Newton. Newton kept his calculus method secret for years without publishing it and Newton only published his Principia at the constant urging of Edmond Halley (of Halley's comet fame).

    I say give both Newton and Hooke their rightful place in scientific history for what they individually accomplished and what they accomplished together from their personal interactions with each other. However, when we talk about scientific geniuses in our recorded history, you will always find Newton's name above Hooke's name in any well-respected historian's analysis.
     
  5. markjohconley

    markjohconley Well-Known Member

    These "parallels of genius" must occur many times throughout history;
    Evolution, there was Alfred Wallace (natural selection, speciation (Wallace effect) the same time as Charles Darwin!
    Artitistically Monet and Renoir!
    Biomechanically, Conley the same time as Spooner & Kirby!
    Amazing, even a touch spooky, isn't it.
     
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