Newton

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

SIR ISAAC, an English philosopher; born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Dec. 25, 1642 (old style). In 1654 he was sent to Grantham School, and at the age of 18 removed to Trinity College, Cambridge. After going through Euclid's Elements, he proceeded to the study of Descartes' Geometry, with Oughtred's Clavis and Kepler's Optics, in all of which he made marginal notes. It was in this early course that he invented the method of SIR ISAAC NEWTON fluxions, which he afterward brought to perfection, though his claim to the discovery was unjustly contested by Leibnitz. At the age of 22 Newton took his degree of B. A., and about the same time he applied d himself to the grinding of object-glasses for telescopes. Having procured a glass prism in order to investigate the phenomena of colors, the result of his observations was his new theory of light and colors. It was not long after this that he made his discovof the law ery of gravitation; but it was not till 1687 that the Newtonian system was first published in his great work, the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy." On his return to the university, in 1667, he was chosen fellow of his college, and took his degree of M. A. Two years afterward he succeeded Dr. Barrow in the mathematical professorship. In 1691 he was chosen fellow of the Royal Society, to which body he communicated his theory of light and colors, with an account of a new telescope invented by him, and other interesting papers. When the privileges of the University of Cambridge were attacked by James II., Newton was appointed to appear as one of the delegates in the High Commission Court. He was next chosen a member of the Convention ch Parliament, in which he sat till it was dissolved. In 1696 he was made Warden of the Mint, and afterward Master; which latter place he held till his death. The reformation of the English coinage was largely his work. In 1703 he was chosen president of the Royal Society, in which station he continued 25 years. He was also a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, having been elected in 1699. In 1704 he published his treatise on "Optics"; but the whole merit of this extraordinary work was not at first appreciated. In 1705 he received the honor of knighthood from Queen Anne. He died in Kensington, near London, March 20, 1727. In 1731 a monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey where his remains were buried.