Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:
God said, let Newton be! and all was light- Alexander Pope
One of the most important figures in the entire history
of man was a vegetarian by the name of Sir Isaac Newton. The scientific
revolution came about with his help. He provided the foundation to
calculus, helped with the advancement of optics, came up with the laws
of motion, and discovered the laws of gravity.
Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642 in the old
Julian calendar. His father died before he was born, and left the family
with little money. His mother remarried within three years to a wealthy
man which was fortunate for Newton later in life for it enabled him to
go to college which may not have happened if his father had lived.
Newton’s stepfather, though, did not want anything to do with Newton,
and he was to spend his early childhood living in the care of his
Grandmother.
In 1656, Newton’s stepfather died. Newton was now
allowed to come back to live with his mother on the farm. At the same
time, he was showing little promise in school and was thus taken out.
The next few years he spent working on a farm which proved to be not his
calling. He showed little interest in doing the chores on the farm, and
in 1661 his uncle suggested that he attend Trinity College at Cambridge.
Each college at Cambridge wore its own colors, and
Newton was enrolled as a clergyman. He was admitted in the lowest
standing as a sizar. This meant that he paid for his room and board by
doing chores for his tutor, and bringing meals to the professors. In
1665, the black death came to London, and the college shut down as the
students ran to the country. Newton went back to his live with his
family on the farm. It was at this time that he discovered gravity when
an apple fell onto his work table.
In 1666, London was afire. The fire started in the
king’s baker house near London Bridge. When the fire ended, people
waited for the black death to reappear, but it did not. In 1667,
Cambridge once again opened, and Newton was back in school. From there
is history. Newton would go on to become one of the greatest thinkers of
all time.
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