Where was Isaac Newton born? Isaac Newton - biography and scientific discoveries that turned the world upside down.

On the statue of Sir Isaac Newton(1643-1727), erected at Trinity College, Cambridge, the inscription "In his mind he surpassed the human race" is carved.

Today's publication contains brief biographical information about the life path and scientific achievements of the great scientist. We will find out when and where Isaac Newton lived, in which one he was born, as well as some interesting facts about him.

Brief biography of Isaac Newton

Where was Isaac Newton born? Great English, mechanic, astronomer and physicist, creator of classical mechanics, president of the Royal London was born in the village of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire at death.

Date of birth of Isaac Newton may have a twofold designation: according to the one in force in England at the time of the scientist’s birth, - December 25, 1642, by , whose action in England began in 1752, - January 4, 1643.

The boy was born prematurely and very painful, but he lived for 84 years and accomplished so much in science that would be enough for a dozen lives.

As a child, Newton, according to contemporaries, was withdrawn, loved to read and constantly made technical toys:, etc.

After graduating, in 1661 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. Even then, a strong and courageous Newton was formed - the desire to get to the bottom of everything, intolerance to deceit and oppression, indifference to noisy glory.

In college, he immersed himself in the work of his predecessors - Galileo, Descartes, Kepler, as well as the mathematicians Fermat and Huygens.

In 1664, a plague broke out in Cambridge, and Newton had to return to his native village. He spent two years at Woolsthorpe, during which time his major mathematical discoveries were made.

At the age of 23, the young scientist was already fluent in the methods of differential and integral calculus. At the same time, as he himself claimed, Newton discovered universal gravitation and proved that white sunlight is a mixture of many colors, and also derived the famous Newton's binomial formula.

No wonder they say that the greatest scientific discoveries are made most often by very young people. This happened to Isaac Newton, but all these landmark scientific achievements were published only after twenty, and some even after forty years. The desire not only to discover, but also to prove in detail the truth always remained the main thing for Newton.

The works of the great scientist opened up a completely new picture of the world to his contemporaries. It turned out that celestial bodies located at great distances are interconnected by gravitational forces into a single system.

In the course of his research, Newton determined the mass and density of the planets and found that the planets closest to the Sun are the most dense.

He also proved that it is not an ideal ball: it is “flattened” at and “swollen” at the equator, and are explained by the action of gravity and the Sun.

Scientific research and discoveries of Isaac Newton

In order to list all the scientific achievements of Isaac Newton, more than a dozen pages are needed.

He created the corpuscular theory, assuming that light is a stream of tiny particles, discovered the dispersion of light, interference and diffraction.

He built the first one - the prototype of those giant telescopes that are installed today in the largest observatories in the world.

He discovered the fundamental law of universal gravitation and the main laws of classical mechanics, developed the theory of celestial bodies, and his three-volume work "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" brought the scientist worldwide fame.

Among other things, Newton turned out to be a remarkable economist - when he was appointed director of the British court, he quickly put money circulation in the country in order and launched the issue of a new coin.

The works of the scientist often remained misunderstood by his contemporaries, he was subjected to fierce criticism from colleagues - mathematicians and astronomers, however, in 1705, Queen Anna of Great Britain elevated the son of a simple farmer to a knighthood. For the first time in history, the title of knight was awarded for scientific merit.

The Legend of the Apple and Newton

The story of the discovery of the law of universal gravitation - when Newton's thoughts were interrupted by the fall of a ripe apple, from which the scientist concluded that bodies with different masses were attracted to each other, and then mathematically described this dependence with the famous formula - is just a legend.

However, the British for a whole century showed visitors the “same” apple tree, and when the tree grew old, it was cut down and made into a bench, which is preserved as a historical monument.

Great personality

The life of epochal personalities and their progressor role for many centuries are meticulously studied. They gradually line up in the eyes of posterity from event to event, overgrown with details recreated from documents and all sorts of idle inventions. So is Isaac Newton. A brief biography of this man, who lived in the distant 17th century, can fit only in a book volume the size of a brick.

So, let's begin. Isaac Newton - English (now substitute "great" for each word) astronomer, mathematician, physicist, mechanic. Since 1672 he became a scientist of the Royal Society of London, and in 1703 - its president. The creator of theoretical mechanics, the founder of all modern physics. Described all physical phenomena on the basis of mechanics; discovered the law of universal gravitation, which explained cosmic phenomena and the dependence of earthly realities on them; tied the causes of tides in the oceans to the movement of the moon around the earth; described the laws of our entire solar system. It was he who first began to study the mechanics of continuous media, physical optics and acoustics. Independently of Leibniz, Isaac Newton developed differential and integral equations, revealed to us the dispersion of light, chromatic aberration, tied mathematics to philosophy, wrote works on interference and diffraction, worked on the corpuscular theory of light, theories of space and time. It was he who designed the mirror telescope and organized the coin business in England. In addition to mathematics and physics, Isaac Newton was engaged in alchemy, the chronology of ancient kingdoms, and wrote theological works. The genius of the famous scientist was so far ahead of the entire scientific level of the seventeenth century that contemporaries remembered him more as an exceptionally good person: non-possessive, generous, extremely modest and friendly, always ready to help his neighbor.

Childhood

The great Isaac Newton was born in the family of a small farmer who died three months ago in a small village. His biography began on January 4, 1643, when a very small premature baby was placed in a sheepskin mitten on a bench, from which he fell, hitting hard. The child grew sickly, and therefore uncommunicative, did not keep up with his peers in quick games and became addicted to books. Relatives noticed this and sent little Isaac to school, which he graduated from as the first student. Later, seeing his zeal for learning, they allowed him to study further. Isaac went to Cambridge. Since there was not enough money for education, his student role would have been very humiliating if he had not been lucky with a mentor.

Youth

At that time, poor students could only learn as servants from their teachers. This share fell to the future brilliant scientist. There are all sorts of legends about this period of Newton's life and creative paths, some of them ugly. The mentor whom Isaac served was the most influential Freemason, who traveled not only throughout Europe, but also in Asia, including the Middle, the Far East, and the Southeast. On one of the trips, as the legend says, he was entrusted with the ancient manuscripts of Arab scientists, whose mathematical calculations we still use. According to legend, Newton had access to these manuscripts, and it was they who inspired many of his discoveries.

The science

In six years of study and service, Isaac Newton went through all the stages of the college and became a master of arts.

During the plague, he had to leave his alma mater, but he did not waste time: he studied the physical nature of light, built the laws of mechanics. In 1668 Isaac Newton returned to Cambridge and soon received the Lucas Chair in mathematics. She got to him from a teacher - I. Barrow, that very Mason. Newton quickly became his favorite student, and in order to financially provide for the brilliant protégé, Barrow relinquished the chair in his favor. By that time, Newton was already the author of the binomial. And this is only the beginning of the biography of the great scientist. Then there was a life full of titanic mental labor. Newton was always distinguished by modesty and even shyness. For example, he did not publish his discoveries for a long time and was constantly going to destroy first those, then other chapters of his amazing "Beginnings". He believed that he owed everything to those giants on whose shoulders he stands, meaning, probably, the scientists-predecessors. Although who could have preceded Newton, if he literally said the very first and most weighty word about everything in the world.

The greatness and strength of a real scientist is not at all in the number of merits or awards, not in the titles awarded, and not even in the recognition of such by mankind. A true genius is betrayed by his theories and discoveries left to the world. One of the immortal ascetics who seriously “pushed” scientific and technological progress with their ideas was Isaac Newton, whose theories no one will and cannot question the weightiness of. Every student knows about the famous laws discovered by him. But how did his life turn out, how exactly did he go through his earthly path?

Isaac Newton: biography of a man without an apple

It is quite possible that without the discoveries made by this man, the world around us would be completely different from what we know. They allowed science to take such a wide step forward that we can feel the consequences even in the twenty-first century. Based on the teachings of his world-famous predecessors, such as Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, he managed to correctly compile and logically complete their works, bring them to perfection.

Interesting

As a student, the mathematician Newton kept a diary, a kind of notebook. He contributed the most interesting and important, in his opinion, thoughts, hypotheses and theories. There is a phrase that perfectly characterizes him: “In no philosophy can there be a king, except for absolute truth. We must build golden monuments to the great, but at the same time write on each of them that the main friend of the scientist is the true truth.

Briefly about the English mathematician Newton

This man really managed to create a completely new, more realistic picture of the world than the one that people used before. Carrying out entertaining and rather bold experiments for his time, the scientist was able to prove that mixing all the tones of the spectrum as a result will not give darkness, as previously thought, but a perfectly white color. However, this is far from the main thing, because the law of universal gravitation is considered the most outstanding discovery of Newton. There is even a legend about an apple that fell on the head of a mathematician, familiar to everyone since childhood.

The ascetic himself never aspired to fame or fame, and his works were published only a few decades after they were written. He even “scribbled” in a notebook that fame would increase the number of various friends, friends and acquaintances, which could prevent him from continuing to work. He did not show the first treatise to anyone at all, therefore the descendants managed to find it only three hundred years after the death of the great master. The years of Newton's life cannot be called either simple or comfortable, but they certainly were not barren.

Isaac's early years

Isaac Newton Sr., the father of the future luminary of physics and mathematics, was born in the sixth year of the seventeenth century in a tiny village called Woolsthorpe, which is located in Lincolnshire. The physicist himself believed that the family was descended from immigrants from Scotland, and in the fifteenth century there are references to impoverished nobles with a similar surname. However, modern research has shown that even a hundred years before the birth of the scientist, the Newtons were peasants and worked on the land.

The boy grew up, married a decent girl, Anna Ayskow, farmed hard, and even saved up enough money to leave his wife and newborn offspring several hundred acres of good land and more than five hundred pounds of money. From a sudden and fleeting illness, the man died unexpectedly, at a time when his wife was just about to be relieved from the burden. On December 25, just on the Catholic Christmas of 1642, a weak and sickly boy was born without waiting for the deadline, whom it was decided to name in honor of his father - Isaac.

The baby had no other siblings. However, four years later, my mother found an excellent match. She ran out to marry an elderly widower. Despite her husband's advanced age, the woman gave birth to three more children. The kids demanded care and attention, and Isaac was left to himself. The woman simply did not have enough strength and time to pay enough attention to her firstborn. The boy grew up smart, never cried, didn’t whine and didn’t “tighten the blanket”. He was raised by his mother's brother, Uncle William. Together with him, Isaac enthusiastically made various technical gizmos, for example, boats with sails, a water mill or an hourglass.

In 1953, my stepfather ordered me to live long, but my mother never had time for a boy from her first marriage. However, she did not forget to take care of his well-being, she should be given her due. As soon as Anna received the inheritance of her late husband, she immediately copied it over to young Isaac. Only at the age of twelve was the tomboy sent to school in a nearby town called Grantham. So that he would not walk several tens of kilometers on foot every day, they rented a bed for him from a local pharmacist. Four years later, the mother tried to take her son out of school and attach him to the management of the estate, but he was not at all interested in the “family business”.

In addition, the school teacher Stokes, beloved uncle William, who saw the potential of the young man, also began to ask to send him to the university. The apothecary with whom the boy lodged, and his city acquaintance Humphrey Babington of Cambridge College, joined in the pleas, and the woman relented. Who is Isaac Newton, In the 61st year, no one knew yet.

The guy entered the university and soon took up his favorite thing - science. More than three decades of the life of an outstanding scientist are associated with this educational institution. In the sixty-fourth, he had already compiled for himself a list of unresolved mysteries, mysteries and problems of mankind (Questiones quaedam philosophicae), consisting of more than four dozen items. He was supposed to be able to deal with each of them.

Plague years, glorious for science

The year 1664 was not only fruitful for the young Newton, who had just become interested in mathematics, and also successfully passed the exams, receiving a bachelor's degree, but also terrible for the whole country. In London, houses began to appear, on the facades of which fiery scarlet crosses blazed - a sign of the Great Bubonic Plague, from which there was no escape. She spared neither children nor adults, she did not choose among men or women, she did not divide people into estates and classes. In the summer of 1965, college classes were cancelled. After collecting his favorite books, Isaac went home to the village.

There is even a special historical name for the period of 65-66 years of the seventeenth century - the Great Plague in London. An infectious and terribly contagious disease claimed at least twenty percent of the population of the English capital, successfully spread by hordes of rats. A total of one hundred thousand people died. The dead were taken out of the city, and sometimes they were simply burned in the middle of the streets or along with the dwellings. This caused a colossal fire that claimed several hundred more lives, but helped to cope with the plague.

Optical experiments and the law of universal gravitation

These years were destructive and extremely disastrous for the whole country, but at the same time extremely fruitful for the scientist himself. He could, without being distracted by anything else, engage in his experiments in the wilderness of his native village. At the very end of the sixty-fifth, he had already isolated the differential calculus, and at the beginning of the next year he had already come close to the theory of colors. It was Newton who managed to prove that white light is not primary, but consists of a full spectrum, which he came up with thanks to an experiment with a prism and a directed narrow beam.

By May, Isaac had begun the integral calculus. He began to gradually approach the law of universal gravitation. Based on the knowledge "prepared" in advance by Kepler, Epicurus, Huygens and Descartes, Newton was able to clearly and understandably connect it with the motion of the planets. Moreover, he did not easily calculate the formula, but also proposed a complete working mathematical model, which no one had done before. It is interesting that the legend of the fallen apple, which allegedly prompted the scientist to this discovery, was probably invented by the famous French writer and philosopher Voltaire.

Prominence in scientific circles

In the early spring of 1966, Newton decided to return to the university, but by the summer the plague returned and became even more “furious”, so it was not safe to stay in the city. Only two years later he managed to achieve a master's degree and start teaching. He was no teacher, and the students did not want to go to lectures, shirked in every possible way and even harmed. In 1969, Isaac's tutor, Barrow, insisted on the publication of some mathematical papers. Although the author asked not to reveal his name, he said that we are talking about Newton's developments.

So glory slowly crept up to the great introvert. Already in October 66, he was appointed court chaplain at the invitation of King Charles II himself. It was the dignity of a clergyman, to whom the scientist treated with a share of healthy skepticism. However, he allowed to leave teaching, fully devoting time to science. Total fame came to Isaac only in 1670, after he was enrolled as a member of the Royal Society of London - one of the first Academies of Sciences.

Around this time, he independently developed and independently built a reflecting telescope, which is a design of a lens and a concave mirror, which he presented to the scientific world. The device gave an increase of more than forty times. But to be completely honest, colleagues were not loyal enough to the physicist: conflicts and frictions constantly arose, which Newton did not like very much. After the publication of the work “Philosophical Transactions” in the winter of the 72nd year, a terrible scandal erupted - the inventor Hooke, as well as his friend the Dutch mechanic Huygens, demanded that this work be recognized as unconvincing, since it contradicted their ideas.

In the late seventies, what Newton is famous for, in London, and far beyond its borders, every educated person already knew. But for the philosopher and physicist himself, it was a difficult time. First, a close friend, mentor and former teacher of Barrow died, then a fire broke out in Isaac's house, and only half of the archive was saved. In the seventy-seventh, the head of the Royal Society, Oldenburg, went to the forefathers, and Hooke, who frankly disliked Newton, sat in his place. In addition, Anna, the mother of the scientist, also died in 1979, which was the last crushing blow - the teacher and this woman were the only ones he was always glad to see.

The most famous works of the English scientist

By the eighty-sixth year, the passage of the famous comet across the sky aroused great interest not only in scientific circles, but also among the townsfolk. Edmond Halley himself, thanks to whom the astronomical body got its name, repeatedly asked Newton to publish works on celestial mechanics and the motion of objects. But he did not even want to hear about anything like that. He did not want new disputes, strife and accusations, because the descendants learned about his achievements much later. It was only in 1684 that a treatise on the ellipticity of the orbits of the planets called De motu was presented to the general public. Only two years later, and even then with the personal money of Professor Halley, the work with the final title Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica was published.

In this work, the scientist completely abandons unnecessary and even somewhat interfering metaphysics, which neither Aristotle nor Descartes ever got rid of. He decides not to take anything for granted and does not operate with invented “root causes”, but proves everything he talks about, based on his own observational experience and experiments. He even had to introduce several new concepts, for example, mass or external forces. On this basis, he deduced the three laws of mechanics that children today learn in the sixth or seventh grade.

Management activities in the hands of a scientist

In 1685, the deeply believing Catholic James II Stuart, who was going to revive the church canons, sat on the English throne instead of the previous reasonable ruler. First of all, he ordered the university authorities to award a degree to the monk Alban Francis, who understood the sciences a little better than a cat. The scientific community got excited, it was unheard of. Immediately followed by a summons from representatives of Cambridge to Judge George Jeffreys, who was afraid of all of London. Newton, never afraid of anything, spoke for everyone. Then the case was hushed up, and two years later King James was overthrown, and the scientist himself was elected to the university parliament.

In 1979, the elderly man made the acquaintance of the young Earl Charles Montagu, who immediately realized the magnitude of the luminary of science in front of him. He asked the ruler William III to appoint Newton as the keeper of the Mint, and he agreed. The man took office in 1695. For three years he studied the technological details and carried out a monetary reform. It is said that at the same time the Russian Tsar Peter the Great arrived, but no records of a meeting with Newton or their conversation have been preserved. In the third year of the eighteenth century, Somers, former President of the Royal Society, died, and the great scientist took his place.

Death of a mathematician: in memory of the physicist Isaac Newton

The last years of the famous innovator were held in honor and fame, although he did not want this and did not strive for fame. Finally, by 1705, his "Optics" was published, and Queen Anna conferred a knighthood on the master. Now he must be called Sir Isaac Newton, imprint his own coat of arms everywhere, and keep a pedigree, frankly, very dubious. This did not please the man, but the previously unpublished works, now published, brought true satisfaction. During the last years of his life, he strictly observed the regime, fulfilling the duties assigned to him.

By 1725, the health of the already not very strong old man began to deteriorate rapidly. In order to slightly alleviate the condition and escape from the bustle of the city, the philosopher moved to Kensington, where it was much quieter and the air turned out to be much cleaner. However, this was no longer able to help him: the body slowly “became unusable”, although he did not have any particularly terrible diseases. On March 20 (31), 1727, the life of Isaac Newton ended in a dream. His body was put on public display and then buried in Westminster Abbey.

In memory of the founder of classical mechanics

The magnitude of this scientist, the power and strength of the mind, his assertiveness and methodicalness, led to the fact that even centuries after his death, descendants did not forget about him and are unlikely to forget sometime in the future. An inscription flaunts on his grave indicating his obvious genius, and a monument has been erected in the courtyard of Trinity College, which can be viewed today.

Craters on Mars and the Moon are named after him, and in the international SI there is a quantity (force) measured in newtons. A medal with his initials is awarded annually for merit in the field of physics. There are a huge number of monuments, streets and squares around the world that also bear his name.

Interesting facts about the scientist Isaac Newton

Newton experimented on himself. Exploring the theory of light, he penetrated the pupil with a thin probe and pressed on the fundus of the eye.

The scientist never married and left no descendants behind him.

Despite his studies in science, this man was always deeply religious and did not deny the existence of God. Although the priests considered parasites.

In order to protect coins from swindling of precious metals by scammers, Newton suggested making transverse notches on the ends. This method is still used today.

Not possessing a heroic appearance, as well as being born prematurely, Isaac never suffered from serious illnesses. He never even had a common cold, at least there is no mention of it.

Myths and legends around physics

There is a legend that the master personally made two holes in the door of the house so that cats could freely enter and exit. But the man never had any pets.

It was rumored that he managed to get the post of caretaker of the Mint only thanks to the youth and innocence of his niece, who liked the treasurer Halifax. In fact, the count met the girl later than the scientist took his honorary post.

Many people tell the story that Newton, as a member of parliament, spoke only once, and then with a request to close the window. But records of his performances for all time do not exist.

There is a myth that a man from his youth was interested in astrology and even knew how to predict the future. But no notes from him or his entourage on this issue were ever found.

In recent years, the scientist has been working on some mysterious work. Many believe that he was trying to decipher the Bible. However, no traces of such work were found after his death.

Wikipedia has articles on other people with this last name, see Newton.

Sir Isaac Newton(or Newton) (English) Sir Isaac Newton, December 25, 1642 - March 20, 1727 according to the Julian calendar in force in England until 1752; or January 4, 1643 - March 31, 1727 according to the Gregorian calendar) - English physicist, mathematician, mechanic and astronomer, one of the founders of classical physics. The author of the fundamental work "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy", in which he outlined the law of universal gravitation and the three laws of mechanics, which became the basis of classical mechanics. He developed differential and integral calculus, color theory, laid the foundations of modern physical optics, created many other mathematical and physical theories.

Biography

early years

Woolsthorpe. The house where Newton was born.

Isaac Newton was born in the village of Woolsthorpe. Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire) on the eve of the Civil War. Newton's father, a small but prosperous farmer Isaac Newton (1606-1642), did not live to see his son's birth. The boy was born prematurely, was painful, so they did not dare to baptize him for a long time. And yet he survived, was baptized (January 1), and named Isaac in memory of his father. The fact of being born on Christmas Day was considered by Newton to be a special sign of fate. Despite poor health as an infant, he lived to be 84 years old.

Newton sincerely believed that his family goes back to the Scottish nobles of the 15th century, but historians have discovered that in 1524 his ancestors were poor peasants. By the end of the 16th century, the family had grown rich and moved into the category of yeomen (landowners). Newton's father left a large sum of 500 pounds sterling for those times and several hundred acres of fertile land occupied by fields and forests.

In January 1646, Newton's mother, Anna Ayscough (b. Hannah Ayscough) (1623-1679) remarried. She had three children with her new husband, a 63-year-old widower, and began to pay little attention to Isaac. The boy's patron was his maternal uncle, William Ayskoe. As a child, Newton, according to contemporaries, was silent, withdrawn and isolated, loved to read and make technical toys: sun and water clocks, a mill, etc. All his life he felt lonely.

His stepfather died in 1653, part of his inheritance passed to Newton's mother and was immediately issued by her to Isaac. The mother returned home, but her main attention was paid to the three youngest children and the extensive household; Isaac was still on his own.

In 1655, 12-year-old Newton was sent to study at a nearby school in Grantham, where he lived in the house of the apothecary Clark. Soon the boy showed extraordinary abilities, but in 1659 his mother Anna returned him to the estate and tried to entrust the 16-year-old son with part of the management of the household. The attempt was not successful - Isaac preferred reading books, versification and especially the construction of various mechanisms to all other activities. At this time, Anna was approached by Stokes, Newton's school teacher, and began to persuade her to continue the education of an unusually gifted son; this request was joined by Uncle William and Grantham acquaintance of Isaac (relative of the apothecary Clark) Humphrey Babington, a member of Trinity College Cambridge. With their combined efforts, they finally succeeded. In 1661, Newton successfully graduated from school and went to continue his education at Cambridge University.

Trinity College (1661-1664)

Trinity College Clock Tower

In June 1661, 18-year-old Newton arrived in Cambridge. According to the statute, he was given an examination in Latin, after which he was informed that he was admitted to Trinity College (College of the Holy Trinity) of Cambridge University. More than 30 years of Newton's life are connected with this educational institution.

The college, like the entire university, was going through a difficult time. The monarchy had just been restored in England (1660), King Charles II often delayed the payments due to the university, dismissed a significant part of the teaching staff appointed during the years of the revolution. In total, 400 people lived in Trinity College, including students, servants and 20 beggars, to whom, according to the charter, the college was obliged to give alms. The educational process was in a deplorable state.

Newton was enrolled in the category of student "sizers" (Eng. sizar) from whom no tuition fees were charged (probably on Babington's recommendation). According to the norms of that time, the sizer was obliged to pay for his education through various jobs at the University, or by providing services to wealthier students. There are very few documentary evidence and memories of this period of his life. During these years, the character of Newton was finally formed - the desire to get to the bottom, intolerance to deceit, slander and oppression, indifference to public glory. He still didn't have any friends.

In April 1664, Newton, having passed the exams, moved to a higher student category of "schoolboys" ( scholars), which made him eligible for a scholarship and continued college education.

Despite the discoveries of Galileo, science and philosophy at Cambridge were still taught according to Aristotle. However, Newton's surviving notebooks already mention Galileo, Copernicus, Cartesianism, Kepler, and Gassendi's atomistic theory. Judging by these notebooks, he continued to make (mainly scientific instruments), enthusiastically studied optics, astronomy, mathematics, phonetics, and music theory. According to the memoirs of a roommate, Newton selflessly indulged in teaching, forgetting about food and sleep; probably, despite all the difficulties, this was exactly the way of life that he himself desired.

Isaac Barrow. Statue at Trinity College.

The year 1664 in Newton's life was also rich in other events. Newton experienced a creative upsurge, began independent scientific activity and compiled a large-scale list (of 45 items) of unsolved problems in nature and human life ( Questionnaire, lat. Questiones quaedam philosophicae ). In the future, such lists appear more than once in his workbooks. In March of the same year, the lectures of a new teacher, 34-year-old Isaac Barrow, a prominent mathematician, future friend and teacher of Newton, began at the newly founded (1663) department of mathematics of the college. Newton's interest in mathematics increased dramatically. He made the first significant mathematical discovery: the binomial expansion for an arbitrary rational exponent (including negative ones), and through it he came to his main mathematical method - the expansion of a function into an infinite series. At the very end of the year, Newton became a bachelor.

The scientific support and inspirers of Newton's creativity to the greatest extent were physicists: Galileo, Descartes and Kepler. Newton completed their works by uniting them into a universal system of the world. Lesser but significant influence was exerted by other mathematicians and physicists: Euclid, Fermat, Huygens, Wallis and his immediate teacher Barrow. In Newton's student notebook there is a program phrase:

In philosophy, there can be no sovereign, except for truth ... We must erect monuments of gold to Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and write on each: "Plato is a friend, Aristotle is a friend, but the main friend is truth."

"Plague Years" (1665-1667)

On Christmas Eve 1664, red crosses began to appear on London houses, the first marks of the Great Plague. By the summer, the deadly epidemic had expanded considerably. On August 8, 1665, classes at Trinity College were discontinued and the staff disbanded until the epidemic ended. Newton went home to Woolsthorpe, taking with him the basic books, notebooks and tools.

These were disastrous years for England - a devastating plague (only in London, a fifth of the population died), a devastating war with Holland, the Great Fire of London. But Newton made a significant part of his scientific discoveries in the solitude of the "plague years". It can be seen from the notes that have survived that the 23-year-old Newton was already fluent in the basic methods of differential and integral calculus, including the expansion of functions into series and what was later called the Newton-Leibniz formula. Having carried out a number of ingenious optical experiments, he proved that white is a mixture of colors of the spectrum. Newton later recalled these years:

At the beginning of 1665 I found the method of approximate series and the rule for converting any power of a binomial into such a series ... in November I received the direct method of fluxions [calculus of differentials]; in January of the following year I received the theory of colours, and in May proceeded to the inverse method of fluxes [integral calculus]... At this time I experienced the best time of my youth and was more interested in mathematics and [natural] philosophy than ever afterwards.

But his most significant discovery during these years was the law of universal gravitation. Later, in 1686, Newton wrote to Halley:

In papers written more than 15 years ago (I cannot give the exact date, but, in any case, it was before the start of my correspondence with Oldenburg), I expressed the inverse quadratic proportionality of the planets' gravity to the Sun depending on the distance and calculated the correct ratio terrestrial gravity and conatus recedendi [striving] of the Moon to the center of the Earth, although not entirely accurate.

Revered descendant of Newton's Apple Tree. Cambridge, Botanic Gardens.

The inaccuracy mentioned by Newton was due to the fact that Newton took the dimensions of the Earth and the value of the acceleration of gravity from Galileo's Mechanics, where they were given with a significant error. Later, Newton received more accurate Picard data and was finally convinced of the truth of his theory.

There is a well-known legend that Newton discovered the law of gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree branch. For the first time, the "apple of Newton" was briefly mentioned by Newton's biographer William Stukeley (book "Memoirs of the Life of Newton", 1752):

After dinner, the weather became warm, we went out into the garden and drank tea in the shade of apple trees. He [Newton] told me that the idea of ​​gravity came to him while he was sitting under a tree in the same way. He was in a contemplative mood when suddenly an apple fell from a branch. "Why do apples always fall perpendicular to the ground?" he thought.

The legend became popular thanks to Voltaire. In fact, as can be seen from Newton's workbooks, his theory of universal gravitation developed gradually. Another biographer, Henry Pemberton, gives Newton's reasoning (without mentioning the apple) in more detail: "Comparing the periods of several planets and their distances from the Sun, he found that ... this force must decrease in quadratic proportion with increasing distance." In other words, Newton discovered that from Kepler's third law, which relates the periods of revolution of the planets to the distance to the Sun, it is precisely the "inverse square formula" for the law of gravity (in the approximation of circular orbits) that follows. The final formulation of the law of gravitation, which was included in the textbooks, was written out by Newton later, after the laws of mechanics became clear to him.

These discoveries, as well as many of the later ones, were published 20-40 years later than they were made. Newton did not pursue fame. In 1670 he wrote to John Collins: “I see nothing desirable in fame, even if I were capable of earning it. This would probably increase the number of my acquaintances, but this is exactly what I try to avoid most of all. He did not publish his first scientific work (October 1666), which outlined the foundations of analysis; it was found only after 300 years.

Beginning of scientific fame (1667-1684)

Newton in his youth

In March-June 1666, Newton visited Cambridge. However, in the summer, a new wave of plague forced him to leave home again. Finally, in early 1667, the epidemic subsided, and in April Newton returned to Cambridge. On October 1, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, and in 1668 became a master. He was given a spacious private room to live in, a salary of £2 a year, and a group of students with whom he conscientiously studied standard subjects for several hours a week. However, neither then nor later did Newton become famous as a teacher, his lectures were poorly attended.

Having consolidated his position, Newton traveled to London, where shortly before, in 1660, the Royal Society of London was established - an authoritative organization of prominent scientists, one of the first Academies of Sciences. The printed organ of the Royal Society was the Philosophical Transactions. Philosophical Transactions).

In 1669, mathematical works began to appear in Europe using expansions into infinite series. Although the depth of these discoveries did not go to any comparison with Newton's, Barrow insisted that his student fix his priority in this matter. Newton wrote a brief but fairly complete summary of this part of his discoveries, which he called "Analysis by means of equations with an infinite number of terms." Barrow sent this treatise to London. Newton asked Barrow not to reveal the name of the author of the work (but he still let it slip). "Analysis" spread among specialists and gained some notoriety in England and beyond.

In the same year, Barrow accepted the invitation of the king to become a court chaplain and left teaching. On October 29, 1669, the 26-year-old Newton was elected as his successor, professor of mathematics and optics at Trinity College, with a high salary of £100 a year. Barrow left Newton an extensive alchemical laboratory; during this period, Newton became seriously interested in alchemy, conducted a lot of chemical experiments.

Newton reflector

Simultaneously, Newton continued experiments in optics and color theory. Newton investigated spherical and chromatic aberrations. To minimize them, he built a mixed reflecting telescope: a lens and a concave spherical mirror, which he made and polished himself. The project of such a telescope was first proposed by James Gregory (1663), but this idea was never realized. Newton's first design (1668) was unsuccessful, but the next one, with a more carefully polished mirror, despite its small size, gave a 40-fold increase in excellent quality.

Word of the new instrument quickly reached London, and Newton was invited to show his invention to the scientific community. In late 1671 and early 1672, a reflector was demonstrated before the king, and then at the Royal Society. The device received rave reviews. Probably, the practical importance of the invention also played a role: astronomical observations served to accurately determine the time, which in turn was necessary for navigation at sea. Newton became famous and in January 1672 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Later, improved reflectors became the main tools of astronomers; with their help, the planet Uranus, other galaxies, and redshift were discovered.

At first, Newton valued communication with colleagues from the Royal Society, which included, in addition to Barrow, James Gregory, John Vallis, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and other famous figures of English science. However, tedious conflicts soon began, which Newton did not like very much. In particular, a noisy controversy flared up about the nature of light. It began with the fact that in February 1672 Newton published in "Philosophical Transactions" a detailed description of his classical experiments with prisms and his theory of color. Hooke, who had previously published his own theory, stated that Newton's results did not convince him; it was supported by Huygens on the grounds that Newton's theory "contradicts conventional wisdom". Newton responded to their criticism only six months later, but by this time the number of critics had increased significantly.

The avalanche of incompetent attacks caused Newton to become irritated and depressed. Newton asked the secretary of the Oldenburg Society not to send him any more critical letters and gave a vow for the future: not to get involved in scientific disputes. In letters, he complains that he is faced with a choice: either not to publish his discoveries, or to spend all his time and all his energy on repelling unfriendly amateurish criticism. In the end, he chose the first option and made a declaration of resignation from the Royal Society (March 8, 1673). Oldenburg, not without difficulty, persuaded him to stay, but scientific contacts with the Society were reduced to a minimum for a long time.

In 1673 two important events took place. First, by royal decree, Newton's old friend and patron, Isaac Barrow, returned to Trinity, now as head ("master") of the college. Secondly, Leibniz, known at that time as a philosopher and inventor, became interested in Newton's mathematical discoveries. After receiving Newton's 1669 work on infinite series and studying it in depth, he further independently began to develop his own version of analysis. In 1676, Newton and Leibniz exchanged letters in which Newton explained a number of his methods, answered questions from Leibniz, and hinted at the existence of even more general methods, not yet published (meaning the general differential and integral calculus). The secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, insistently asked Newton to publish his mathematical discoveries on analysis for the glory of England, but Newton replied that he had been working on another topic for five years and did not want to be distracted. Newton did not answer another letter from Leibniz. The first brief publication on the Newtonian version of analysis appeared only in 1693, when Leibniz's version had already spread widely throughout Europe.

The end of the 1670s was sad for Newton. In May 1677, 47-year-old Barrow died unexpectedly. In the winter of the same year, a strong fire broke out in Newton's house, and part of Newton's manuscript archive burned down. In September 1677, the secretary of the Royal Society of Oldenburg, who favored Newton, died, and Hooke, who was hostile to Newton, became the new secretary. In 1679, Anna's mother fell seriously ill; Newton, leaving all his affairs, came to her, took an active part in caring for the patient, but his mother's condition quickly worsened, and she died. Mother and Barrow were among the few people who brightened up Newton's loneliness.

"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1684-1686)

Title page of Newton's Elements

Main article: Mathematical principles of natural philosophy

The history of the creation of this work, one of the most famous in the history of science, began in 1682, when the passage of Halley's comet caused an increase in interest in celestial mechanics. Edmond Halley tried to persuade Newton to publish his "general theory of motion", which had long been rumored in the scientific community. Newton, not wanting to be drawn into new scientific disputes and bickering, refused.

In August 1684, Halley arrived in Cambridge and told Newton that he, Wren, and Hooke discussed how to derive the ellipticity of the planets' orbits from the formula for the law of gravitation, but did not know how to approach the solution. Newton reported that he already had such a proof, and in November sent Halley the finished manuscript. He immediately appreciated the significance of the result and the method, immediately visited Newton again and this time managed to persuade him to publish his discoveries. On December 10, 1684, a historical entry appeared in the minutes of the Royal Society:

Mr. Halley ... recently saw Mr. Newton in Cambridge, and he showed him an interesting treatise "De motu" [On Motion]. According to Mr. Halley's wish, Newton promised to send the said treatise to the Society.

Work on the book went on in 1684-1686. According to the memoirs of Humphrey Newton, a relative of the scientist and his assistant during these years, at first Newton wrote the "Principles" in between alchemical experiments, to which he paid the main attention, then gradually got carried away and enthusiastically devoted himself to working on the main book of his life.

The publication was supposed to be carried out at the expense of the Royal Society, but in early 1686 the Society published a treatise on the history of fish that did not find demand, and thereby depleted its budget. Then Halley announced that he would bear the cost of publishing. The society accepted this generous offer with gratitude and, as a partial compensation, provided Halley with 50 copies of a treatise on the history of fish free of charge.

Newton's work - perhaps by analogy with Descartes' "Principles of Philosophy" (1644) or, according to some historians of science, in defiance of the Cartesians - was called the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (lat. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ), that is, in modern language, "Mathematical Foundations of Physics".

On April 28, 1686, the first volume of Principia Mathematica was presented to the Royal Society. All three volumes, after some editing by the author, appeared in 1687. The circulation (about 300 copies) was sold out in 4 years - very quickly for that time.

Page from Newton's Elements (3rd ed., 1726)

Both the physical and mathematical level of Newton's work is completely incomparable with the work of his predecessors. There is no Aristotelian or Cartesian metaphysics in it, with its vague reasoning and vaguely formulated, often far-fetched "original causes" of natural phenomena. Newton, for example, does not proclaim that the law of gravity operates in nature, he strictly proves this fact, based on the observed picture of the motion of the planets and their satellites. Newton's method is the creation of a model of a phenomenon, "without inventing hypotheses", and then, if there is enough data, the search for its causes. This approach, initiated by Galileo, meant the end of the old physics. A qualitative description of nature has given way to a quantitative one - a significant part of the book is occupied by calculations, drawings and tables.

In his book, Newton clearly defined the basic concepts of mechanics, and introduced several new ones, including such important physical quantities as mass, external force, and momentum. Three laws of mechanics are formulated. A rigorous derivation from the law of gravitation of all three laws of Kepler is given. Note that hyperbolic and parabolic orbits of celestial bodies unknown to Kepler were also described. The truth of the heliocentric system of Copernicus Newton does not directly discuss, but implies; it even estimates the deviation of the sun from the center of mass of the solar system. In other words, the Sun in Newton's system, unlike the Keplerian system, is not at rest, but obeys the general laws of motion. Comets are also included in the general system, the type of orbits of which then caused great controversy.

The weak point of Newton's theory of gravity, according to many scientists of that time, was the lack of an explanation of the nature of this force. Newton outlined only the mathematical apparatus, leaving open questions about the cause of gravity and its material carrier. For the scientific community, brought up on the philosophy of Descartes, this was an unusual and challenging approach, and only the triumphant success of celestial mechanics in the 18th century forced physicists to temporarily come to terms with Newtonian theory. The physical foundations of gravity became clear only after more than two centuries, with the advent of the General Theory of Relativity.

Newton built the mathematical apparatus and the general structure of the book as close as possible to the then standard of scientific rigor - Euclid's "Principles". He deliberately almost never used mathematical analysis - the use of new, unusual methods would jeopardize the credibility of the results presented. This caution, however, rendered the Newtonian method of presentation worthless for later generations of readers. Newton's book was the first work on the new physics and at the same time one of the last serious works using the old methods of mathematical research. All of Newton's followers were already using the powerful methods of mathematical analysis he had created. D'Alembert, Euler, Laplace, Clairaut and Lagrange became the largest immediate successors of Newton's work.

Administrative activity (1687-1703)

The year 1687 was marked not only by the release of the great book, but also by Newton's conflict with King James II. In February, the king, consistently pursuing his line on the restoration of Catholicism in England, ordered the University of Cambridge to give a master's degree to the Catholic monk Alban Francis. The leadership of the university hesitated, desiring neither to break the law nor to irritate the king; soon a delegation of scientists, including Newton, was summoned for reprisal to the notorious for his rudeness and cruelty, the Lord High Justice George Jeffreys (Eng. George Jeffreys). Newton opposed any compromise that would infringe on university autonomy and urged the delegation to take a stand of principle. As a result, the vice-chancellor of the university was removed from office, but the king's wish was never fulfilled. In one of the letters of these years, Newton outlined his political principles:

Every honest man, by the laws of God and man, is obliged to obey the lawful commands of the king. But if His Majesty is advised to require something that cannot be done according to the law, then no one should suffer if he neglects such a requirement.

In 1689, after the overthrow of King James II, Newton was elected for the first time to Parliament from the University of Cambridge and sat there for a little over a year. The second election took place in 1701-1702. There is a popular anecdote that he took the floor to speak in the House of Commons only once, asking that the window be closed to keep out the draft. In fact, Newton performed his parliamentary duties with the same conscientiousness with which he treated all his affairs.

Around 1691, Newton became seriously ill (most likely, he was poisoned during chemical experiments, although there are other versions - overwork, shock after a fire that led to the loss of important results, and age-related ailments). Relatives feared for his sanity; the few surviving letters of his from this period do indeed testify to mental disorder. Only at the end of 1693 did Newton's health fully recover.

In 1679, Newton met at Trinity an 18-year-old aristocrat, lover of science and alchemy, Charles Montagu (1661-1715). Newton probably made the strongest impression on Montagu, because in 1696, after becoming Lord Halifax, President of the Royal Society and Chancellor of the Exchequer (that is, the Minister of the Exchequer of England), Montagu proposed to the King that Newton be appointed to the Mint. The king gave his consent, and in 1696 Newton took up this position, left Cambridge and moved to London. Since 1699, he became the manager ("master") of the Mint.

To begin with, Newton thoroughly studied the technology of coin production, put the paperwork in order, redid the accounting for the last 30 years. At the same time, Newton energetically and skillfully contributed to the monetary reform carried out by Montagu, restoring confidence in the monetary system of England, which had been thoroughly launched by his predecessors. In England of these years, almost exclusively underweight coins were in circulation, and counterfeit coins were in considerable quantity. Trimming of the edges of silver coins has become widespread. Now, the coin began to be produced on special machines and there was an inscription along the rim, so that the criminal grinding of metal became almost impossible. The old, underweight silver coin was completely withdrawn from circulation and re-minted for 2 years, the issue of new coins increased to keep up with the demand for them, their quality improved. Earlier, during such reforms, the population had to change the old money by weight, after which the amount of cash decreased both among individuals (private and legal), and throughout the country, but interest and loan obligations remained the same, which caused the economy to begin stagnation. Newton proposed to exchange money at face value, which prevented these problems, and the inevitable after such a shortage of funds was made up by taking loans from other countries (most of all from the Netherlands), inflation dropped sharply, but external public debt grew by the middle of the century to unprecedented levels in the history of England sizes. But during this time, there was a noticeable economic growth, because of it, tax deductions to the treasury increased (equal in size with the French, despite the fact that France was inhabited by 2.5 times more people), due to this, the public debt was gradually paid off.

However, an honest and competent person at the head of the Mint did not suit everyone. From the very first days, complaints and denunciations rained down on Newton, and inspection commissions constantly appeared. As it turned out, many denunciations came from counterfeiters irritated by Newton's reforms. Newton, as a rule, was indifferent to slander, but never forgave if it affected his honor and reputation. He personally participated in dozens of investigations, and more than 100 counterfeiters were hunted down and convicted; in the absence of aggravating circumstances, they were most often sent to the North American colonies, but several ringleaders were executed. The number of counterfeit coins in England has been greatly reduced. Montagu, in his memoirs, praised Newton's extraordinary administrative abilities, which ensured the success of the reform. Thus, the reforms carried out by the scientist not only prevented an economic crisis, but also, decades later, led to a significant increase in the country's welfare.

In April 1698, the Russian Tsar Peter I visited the Mint three times during the "Great Embassy"; unfortunately, the details of his visit and communication with Newton have not been preserved. It is known, however, that in 1700 a monetary reform similar to the English one was carried out in Russia. And in 1713, Newton sent the first six printed copies of the 2nd edition of "Beginnings" to Tsar Peter in Russia.

Two events in 1699 became a symbol of Newton's scientific triumph: the teaching of Newton's world system began at Cambridge (since 1704, also at Oxford), and the Paris Academy of Sciences, a stronghold of his Carthusian opponents, elected him as its foreign member. All this time, Newton was still a member and professor of Trinity College, but in December 1701 he officially resigned from all his posts at Cambridge.

In 1703, the president of the Royal Society, Lord John Somers, died, having attended meetings of the Society only twice in 5 years of his presidency. In November, Newton was chosen as his successor and ran the Society for the rest of his life - more than twenty years. Unlike his predecessors, he personally attended all meetings and did everything to ensure that the British Royal Society took an honorable place in the scientific world. The number of members of the Society grew (among them, in addition to Halley, Denis Papin, Abraham de Moivre, Roger Cotes, Brooke Taylor can be distinguished), interesting experiments were carried out and discussed, the quality of journal articles improved significantly, financial problems were alleviated. The society acquired paid secretaries and its own residence (on Fleet Street), Newton paid for the moving costs from his own pocket. During these years, Newton was often invited as a consultant to various government commissions, and Princess Caroline, the future Queen of Great Britain, spent hours talking with him in the palace on philosophical and religious topics.

Last years

One of the last portraits of Newton (1712, Thornhill)

In 1704, the monograph "Optics" was published (first in English), which determined the development of this science until the beginning of the 19th century. It contained an appendix "On the quadrature of curves" - the first and fairly complete exposition of the Newtonian version of calculus. In fact, this is Newton's last work in the natural sciences, although he lived for more than 20 years. The catalog of the library he left behind contained books mainly on history and theology, and it was to these pursuits that Newton devoted the rest of his life. Newton remained the manager of the Mint, since this post, unlike the post of caretaker, did not require him to be especially active. Twice a week he went to the Mint, once a week - to a meeting of the Royal Society. Newton never traveled outside of England.

Newton was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. From now on he Sir Isaac Newton. For the first time in English history, a knighthood was awarded for scientific merit; the next time it happened more than a century later (1819, in reference to Humphry Davy). However, some biographers believe that the queen was guided not by scientific, but by political motives. Newton acquired his own coat of arms and not very reliable pedigree.

In 1707, a collection of Newton's lectures on algebra was published, called "Universal Arithmetic". The numerical methods presented in it marked the birth of a new promising discipline - numerical analysis.

Newton's grave in Westminster Abbey

In 1708, an open priority dispute with Leibniz began (see below), in which even the reigning persons were involved. This feud between two geniuses cost science dearly - the English school of mathematics soon reduced its activity for a whole century, and the European school ignored many of Newton's outstanding ideas, rediscovering them much later. The conflict was not extinguished even by the death of Leibniz (1716).

The first edition of Newton's Elements was sold out long ago. Newton's many years of work on the preparation of the 2nd edition, revised and supplemented, was crowned with success in 1710, when the first volume of the new edition was published (the last, third - in 1713). The initial circulation (700 copies) turned out to be clearly insufficient, in 1714 and 1723 there was an additional printing. When finalizing the second volume, Newton, as an exception, had to return to physics in order to explain the discrepancy between the theory and experimental data, and he immediately made a major discovery - the hydrodynamic compression of the jet. The theory is now in good agreement with experiment. Newton added a "Homily" to the end of the book with a scathing critique of the "vortex theory" with which his Cartesian opponents tried to explain the motion of the planets. To the natural question “how is it really?” the book follows the famous and honest answer: "I still could not deduce the cause ... of the properties of the force of gravity from phenomena, but I do not invent hypotheses."

In April 1714, Newton summarized his experience of financial regulation and submitted to the Treasury his article "Observations on the Value of Gold and Silver". The article contained specific proposals for adjusting the value of precious metals. These proposals were partially accepted, and this had a favorable effect on the British economy.

The indignant investors of the South Sea Company were satirically portrayed by Edward Matthew Ward.

Shortly before his death, Newton became one of the victims of a financial scam by a large trading South Sea Company, which was supported by the government. He bought a large amount of the company's securities, and also insisted on their acquisition by the Royal Society. On September 24, 1720, the company's bank declared bankruptcy. Niece Catherine recalled in her notes that Newton lost over 20,000 pounds, after which he declared that he could calculate the movement of celestial bodies, but not the degree of crowd madness. However, many biographers believe that Catherine did not mean a real loss, but a failure to receive the expected profit. After the company went bankrupt, Newton offered to compensate the Royal Society out of his own pocket, but his offer was rejected.

Newton devoted the last years of his life to writing the "Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms", which he worked on for about 40 years, as well as to the preparation of the third edition of the "Beginnings", which was published in 1726. Unlike the second edition, the changes in the third edition were small - mainly the results of new astronomical observations, including a fairly complete guide to comets observed since the 14th century. Among others, the calculated orbit of Halley's comet was presented, the reappearance of which at the indicated time (1758) clearly confirmed the theoretical calculations of the (by that time already deceased) Newton and Halley. The circulation of the book for the scientific edition of those years could be considered huge: 1250 copies.

In 1725, Newton's health began to noticeably deteriorate, and he moved to Kensington near London, where he died at night, in his sleep, on March 20 (31), 1727. He did not leave a written will, but shortly before his death he transferred a significant part of his large fortune to his closest relatives. Buried in Westminster Abbey.

Personal qualities

Character traits

It is difficult to make a psychological portrait of Newton, since even people who sympathize with him often attribute various qualities to Newton. One has to take into account the cult of Newton in England, which forced the authors of memoirs to endow the great scientist with all conceivable virtues, ignoring the real contradictions in his nature. In addition, by the end of his life, such traits as good nature, indulgence and sociability appeared in Newton's character, which were not previously characteristic of him.

Outwardly, Newton was short, strong build, with wavy hair. He almost did not get sick, until old age he retained thick hair (already from the age of 40 he was completely gray) and all his teeth, except for one. He never (according to other sources, almost never) used glasses, although he was a little short-sighted. He almost never laughed or got annoyed, there is no mention of his jokes or other manifestations of a sense of humor. In monetary calculations, he was accurate and thrifty, but not stingy. Never married. Usually he was in a state of deep inner concentration, which is why he often showed absent-mindedness: for example, once, having invited guests, he went to the pantry for wine, but then some scientific idea dawned on him, he rushed to the office and never returned to the guests . He was indifferent to sports, music, art, theater, travel, although he knew how to draw well. His assistant recalled: "He did not allow himself any rest and respite ... considered lost every hour that was not devoted to [science] ... I think he was saddened a lot by the need to spend time on food and sleep." With all that said, Newton managed to combine worldly practicality and common sense, which were clearly manifested in his successful management of the Mint and the Royal Society.

Raised in a Puritan tradition, Newton set himself a set of rigid principles and self-restraints. And he was not inclined to forgive others what he would not forgive himself; this is the root of many of his conflicts (see below). He treated his relatives and many colleagues warmly, but he did not have close friends, did not seek the company of other people, and kept aloof. At the same time, Newton was not heartless and indifferent to the fate of others. When, after the death of his half-sister Anna, her children were left without a livelihood, Newton assigned an allowance to minor children, and later Anna's daughter, Katherine, took to his upbringing. He also helped other relatives. “Being economical and prudent, he was at the same time very free with money and was always ready to help a friend in need, without showing obsession. He is especially noble in relation to the youth. Many famous English scientists - Stirling, Maclaurin, astronomer James Pound and others - recalled with deep gratitude the help provided by Newton at the beginning of their scientific career.

Conflicts

Newton and Hooke

Robert Hooke. Reconstruction of appearance according to verbal descriptions of contemporaries.

In 1675, Newton sent the Society his treatise with new research and reasoning about the nature of light. Robert Hooke at the meeting stated that everything that is valuable in the treatise is already in Hooke's previously published book "Micrographia". In private conversations, he accused Newton of plagiarism: "I showed that Mr. Newton used my hypotheses about impulses and waves" (from Hooke's diary). Hooke disputed the priority of all Newton's discoveries in the field of optics, except for those with which he did not agree. Oldenburg immediately informed Newton of these accusations, and he regarded them as insinuations. This time the conflict was extinguished, and the scientists exchanged conciliatory letters (1676). However, from that moment until the death of Hooke (1703), Newton did not publish any work on optics, although he accumulated a huge amount of material, systematized by him in the classic monograph Optics (1704).

Another priority dispute was related to the discovery of the law of gravity. Back in 1666, Hooke came to the conclusion that the motion of the planets is a superposition of falling on the Sun due to the force of attraction to the Sun, and motion by inertia tangential to the trajectory of the planet. In his opinion, this superposition of motion determines the elliptical shape of the planet's trajectory around the Sun. However, he could not prove this mathematically and sent a letter to Newton in 1679, where he offered cooperation in solving this problem. This letter also stated the assumption that the force of attraction to the Sun decreases inversely with the square of the distance. In response, Newton noted that he had previously dealt with the problem of planetary motion, but left these studies. Indeed, as later documents found show, Newton dealt with the problem of planetary motion as early as 1665-1669, when, on the basis of Kepler's III law, he established that "the tendency of the planets to move away from the Sun will be inversely proportional to the squares of their distances from the Sun." However, the idea of ​​the planet's orbit as solely the result of the equality of the forces of attraction to the Sun and the centrifugal force had not yet been fully developed in those years.

Subsequently, the correspondence between Hooke and Newton was interrupted. Hooke returned to attempts to construct the trajectory of the planet under the action of a force decreasing according to the inverse square law. However, these attempts were also unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Newton returned to the study of planetary motion and solved this problem.

When Newton was preparing his Principia for publication, Hooke demanded that Newton, in the preface, stipulate Hooke's priority with regard to the law of gravitation. Newton countered that Bulliald, Christopher Wren, and Newton himself arrived at the same formula independently and before Hooke. A conflict broke out, which poisoned the lives of both scientists a lot.

Modern authors give credit to both Newton and Hooke. Hooke's priority is to formulate the problem of constructing the trajectory of the planet due to the superposition of its fall on the Sun according to the inverse square law and motion by inertia. It is also possible that it was Hooke's letter that directly spurred Newton to complete the solution of this problem. However, Hooke himself did not solve the problem, and also did not guess about the universality of gravity. According to S. I. Vavilov,

If we combine into one all the assumptions and thoughts of Hooke about the motion of the planets and gravitation, expressed by him for almost 20 years, then we will meet almost all the main conclusions of Newton's Elements, only expressed in an uncertain and little evidence form. Without solving the problem, Hook found her answer. At the same time, we have before us not an accidentally thrown thought, but undoubtedly the fruit of many years of work. Hooke had the ingenious conjecture of an experimental physicist who sees through the labyrinth of facts the true relationships and laws of nature. With such a rare intuition of the experimenter, we meet in the history of science even with Faraday, but Hooke and Faraday were not mathematicians. Their work was completed by Newton and Maxwell. The aimless struggle with Newton for priority has cast a shadow over the glorious name of Hooke, but it is time for history, after almost three centuries, to pay tribute to everyone. Hooke could not follow the straight, irreproachable path of Newton's Principles of Mathematics, but by his roundabout paths, traces of which we can no longer find, he came there too.

In the future, Newton's relationship with Hooke remained tense. For example, when Newton presented to the Society a new design of a sextant he had invented, Hooke immediately declared that he had invented such a device more than 30 years ago (although he had never built sextants). Nevertheless, Newton was aware of the scientific value of Hooke's discoveries and in his "Optics" several times mentioned his already deceased opponent.

In addition to Newton, Hooke engaged in priority disputes with many other English and continental scientists, including Robert Boyle, whom he accused of appropriating the improvement of the air pump, and with the secretary of the Royal Society, Oldenburg, stating that with the help of Oldenburg, Huygens stole Hooke's idea coil spring watch.

The myth that Newton allegedly ordered the destruction of the only portrait of Hooke is being considered.

Newton and Flamsteed

John Flamsteed.

John Flamsteed, an eminent English astronomer, met Newton at Cambridge (1670) when Flamsteed was still a student and Newton was a master. However, already in 1673, almost simultaneously with Newton, Flamsteed also became famous - he published astronomical tables of excellent quality, for which the king honored him with a personal audience and the title of "Royal Astronomer". Moreover, the king ordered the construction of an observatory in Greenwich near London and transfer it to Flamsteed. However, the king considered the money to equip the observatory to be an unnecessary expense, and almost all of Flamsteed's income went to the construction of instruments and the economic needs of the observatory.

Greenwich Observatory, old building

At first, Newton and Flamsteed's relationship was cordial. Newton was preparing a second edition of the Principia and badly needed accurate observations of the moon in order to construct and (as he hoped) confirm his theory of its motion; in the first edition, the theory of the motion of the moon and comets was unsatisfactory. This was also important for the assertion of Newton's theory of gravitation, which was sharply criticized by the Cartesians on the Continent. Flamsteed willingly gave him the requested data, and in 1694 Newton proudly informed Flamsteed that a comparison of calculated and experimental data showed their practical coincidence. In some letters, Flamsteed urged Newton, in the case of using observations, to stipulate him, Flamsteed, priority; this primarily applied to Halley, whom Flamsteed disliked and suspected of scientific dishonesty, but could also mean distrust of Newton himself. In Flamsteed's letters, resentment begins to show:

I agree: the wire is more expensive than the gold from which it is made. I, however, collected this gold, refined and washed it, and I dare not think that you value my help so little just because you received it so easily.

The beginning of an open conflict was laid by a letter from Flamsteed, in which he apologetically reported that he had discovered a number of systematic errors in some of the data provided to Newton. This threatened the Newtonian theory of the moon and forced to redo the calculations, and the credibility of the rest of the data was also shaken. Newton, who hated dishonesty, was extremely annoyed and even suspected that the errors were deliberately introduced by Flamsteed.

In 1704, Newton visited Flamsteed, who by this time had received new, extremely accurate observational data, and asked him to transfer these data; in return, Newton promised to help Flamsteed in the publication of his main work - the Great Star Catalog. Flamsteed, however, began to play for time for two reasons: the catalog was not yet completely ready, and he no longer trusted Newton and was afraid of stealing his priceless observations. Flamsteed used the experienced calculators provided to him to complete the work to calculate the positions of the stars, while Newton was primarily interested in the Moon, planets and comets. Finally, in 1706, the printing of the book began, but Flamsteed, suffering from excruciating gout and becoming increasingly suspicious, demanded that Newton not open the sealed type copy until the printing was completed; Newton, who urgently needed the data, ignored this prohibition and wrote out the required values. The tension grew. Flamsteed scandalized Newton for attempting to personally make minor corrections to errors. Printing of the book was extremely slow.

Due to financial difficulties, Flamsteed failed to pay his membership fee and was expelled from the Royal Society; a new blow was struck by the queen, who, apparently, at the request of Newton, transferred control functions over the observatory to the Society. Newton gave Flamsteed an ultimatum:

You submitted an imperfect catalog that was missing a lot, you didn't give the positions of the stars that were desired, and I heard that printing has now stopped because they weren't provided. Thus, the following is expected of you: either you send the end of your catalog to Dr. Arbuthnot, or at least send him the observational data necessary for completion, so that printing can continue.

Newton also threatened that further delays would be seen as disobeying Her Majesty's orders. In March 1710, Flamsteed, after ardent complaints about the injustice and intrigues of his enemies, nevertheless handed over the final pages of his catalog, and in early 1712 the first volume, entitled "Heavenly History", was published. It contained all the data Newton needed, and a year later a revised edition of the Principia, with a much more accurate theory of the moon, was also soon to appear. The vindictive Newton did not include Flamsteed's gratitude in the edition and crossed out all references to him that were present in the first edition. In response, Flamsteed burned all the unsold 300 copies of the catalog in his fireplace and began to prepare a second edition of it, this time to his own taste. He died in 1719, but through the efforts of his wife and friends, this remarkable edition, the pride of English astronomy, was published in 1725.

Newton and Leibniz

Gottfried Leibniz

From the surviving documents, historians of science found out that Newton discovered the differential and integral calculus back in 1665-1666, but did not publish it until 1704. Leibniz developed his version of analysis independently (since 1675), although the initial impetus to his thought probably came from rumors that Newton already had such a calculus, as well as thanks to scientific conversations in England and correspondence with Newton. Unlike Newton, Leibniz immediately published his version, and later, together with Jacob and Johann Bernoulli, widely promoted this landmark discovery throughout Europe. Most scientists on the Continent had no doubt that Leibniz had discovered analysis.

Heeding the persuasion of friends who appealed to his patriotism, Newton in the 2nd book of his "Principles" (1687) said:

In letters which I exchanged about ten years ago with the highly skilled mathematician Herr Leibniz, I informed him that I had a method for determining maxima and minima, drawing tangents, and solving similar questions, equally applicable to terms of rational and for irrational ones, and I hid the method by rearranging the letters of the following sentence: "when an equation is given containing any number of current quantities, find fluxes and vice versa." The most famous husband answered me that he also attacked such a method and communicated to me his method, which turned out to be scarcely different from mine, and then only in terms and formulas.

Our Wallis has added to his "Algebra", which has just appeared, some of the letters that I wrote to you in my time. At the same time, he demanded of me that I openly state the method that I at that time hid from you by rearranging the letters; I made it as short as I could. I hope that at the same time I did not write anything that would be unpleasant for you, but if this happened, then please let me know, because my friends are dearer to me than mathematical discoveries.

After the appearance of the first detailed publication of Newtonian analysis (a mathematical supplement to "Optics", 1704), an anonymous review appeared in Leibniz's journal "Acta eruditorum" with offensive allusions to Newton. The review clearly indicated that the author of the new calculus was Leibniz. Leibniz himself vehemently denied that the review was written by him, but historians have been able to find a draft written in his handwriting. Newton ignored Leibniz's article, but his students responded indignantly, after which a pan-European priority war broke out, "the most shameful squabble in the entire history of mathematics."

On January 31, 1713, the Royal Society received a letter from Leibniz containing a conciliatory wording: he agrees that Newton came to analysis on his own, "on general principles like ours." An angry Newton demanded the creation of an international commission to clarify the priority. The commission did not take much time: a month and a half later, having studied Newton's correspondence with Oldenburg and other documents, it unanimously recognized Newton's priority, moreover, in a wording that was insulting to Leibniz this time. The decision of the commission was printed in the proceedings of the Society with all supporting documents attached. In response, from the summer of 1713 Europe was flooded with anonymous pamphlets that defended Leibniz's priority and asserted that "Newton appropriates to himself the honor that belongs to another." The pamphlets also accused Newton of stealing the results of Hooke and Flamsteed. Newton's friends, for their part, accused Leibniz himself of plagiarism; according to them, during his stay in London (1676), Leibniz got acquainted with the unpublished works and letters of Newton at the Royal Society, after which Leibniz published the ideas expressed there and passed them off as his own.

The war did not abate until December 1716, when the Abbé Conti informed Newton: "Leibniz is dead - the dispute is over."

Scientific activity

A new era in physics and mathematics is associated with Newton's work. He completed the creation of theoretical physics begun by Galileo, based, on the one hand, on experimental data, and, on the other hand, on a quantitative and mathematical description of nature. Powerful analytical methods appear in mathematics. In physics, the main method of studying nature is the construction of adequate mathematical models of natural processes and the intensive study of these models with the systematic involvement of all the power of the new mathematical apparatus. Subsequent centuries have proved the exceptional fruitfulness of this approach.

Philosophy and scientific method

Newton resolutely rejected the approach of Descartes and his followers, the Cartesians, popular at the end of the 17th century, who ordered, when constructing a scientific theory, to first find the “original causes” of the phenomenon under study with the “insight of the mind”. In practice, this approach has often led to far-fetched hypotheses about "substances" and "hidden properties" that are not subject to experimental verification. Newton believed that in "natural philosophy" (that is, physics) only such assumptions ("principles", now prefer the name "laws of nature") are admissible, which directly follow from reliable experiments, generalize their results; he called hypotheses hypotheses that were insufficiently substantiated by experiments. “Everything ... that is not deduced from phenomena should be called a hypothesis; hypotheses of metaphysical, physical, mechanical, hidden properties have no place in experimental philosophy. Examples of principles are the law of gravity and the 3 laws of mechanics in the Elements; the word "principles" Principia Mathematica, traditionally translated as "mathematical principles") is also contained in the title of his main book.

In a letter to Pardis, Newton formulated the "golden rule of science":

The best and safest method of philosophizing, it seems to me, should be first to study diligently the properties of things and establish these properties by experiment, and then gradually move towards hypotheses that explain these properties. Hypotheses can only be useful in explaining the properties of things, but there is no need to charge them with the responsibility of defining those properties beyond the limits revealed by experiment ... for many hypotheses can be invented to explain any new difficulties.

Such an approach not only placed speculative fantasies outside of science (for example, the Cartesians' reasoning about the properties of "subtle matter", supposedly explaining electromagnetic phenomena), but was more flexible and fruitful, because it allowed mathematical modeling of phenomena for which the root causes had not yet been discovered. This happened to gravity and the theory of light - their nature became clear much later, which did not interfere with the successful centuries-old application of Newtonian models.

The famous phrase “I do not invent hypotheses” (lat. Hypotheses non fingo), of course, does not mean that Newton underestimated the importance of finding "first causes", if they are unambiguously confirmed by experience. The general principles obtained from the experiment and the consequences from them must also undergo experimental verification, which can lead to an adjustment or even a change in the principles. “The whole difficulty of physics ... lies in recognizing the forces of nature from the phenomena of motion, and then using these forces to explain the rest of the phenomena.”

Newton, like Galileo, believed that mechanical motion underlies all processes of nature:

It would be desirable to deduce from the principles of mechanics the rest of the phenomena of nature as well... for there is much that makes me suppose that all these phenomena are determined by certain forces with which the particles of bodies, due to reasons as yet unknown, either tend to each other and interlock into regular figures, or mutually repel and move away from each other. Since these forces are unknown, until now the attempts of philosophers to explain the phenomena of nature have remained fruitless.

Newton formulated his scientific method in his book Optics:

As in mathematics, so in the testing of nature, in the investigation of difficult questions, the analytical method must precede the synthetic. This analysis consists in drawing general conclusions from experiments and observations by induction and not allowing any objections against them that do not start from experiments or other reliable truths. For hypotheses are not considered in experimental philosophy. Although the results obtained by induction from experiments and observations cannot yet serve as proof of universal conclusions, yet this is the best way to draw conclusions, which the nature of things allows.

In the 3rd book of the "Beginnings" (starting from the 2nd edition), Newton placed a number of methodological rules directed against the Cartesians; the first of these is a variant of "Occam's razor":

Rule I. Must not accept other causes in nature than those that are true and sufficient to explain the phenomena ... nature does nothing in vain, and it would be in vain to do to many what can be done by less. Nature is simple and does not luxuriate in superfluous causes of things...

Rule IV. In experimental physics, propositions deduced from occurring phenomena by means of induction [induction], despite the possibility of conjectures contrary to them, must be considered true either exactly or approximately, until such phenomena are discovered by which they are still more precise or are subject to exceptions.

Newton's mechanistic views turned out to be wrong - not all natural phenomena result from mechanical motion. However, his scientific method has established itself in science. Modern physics successfully investigates and applies phenomena, the nature of which has not yet been elucidated (for example, elementary particles). Since Newton, natural science has been developing, firmly convinced that the world is cognizable, because nature is arranged according to simple mathematical principles. This confidence became the philosophical basis for the grandiose progress of science and technology.

Maths

Newton made his first mathematical discoveries back in his student years: the classification of algebraic curves of the 3rd order (curves of the 2nd order were studied by Fermat) and the binomial expansion of an arbitrary (not necessarily integer) degree, from which Newton's theory of infinite series begins - a new and most powerful analysis tool . Newton considered the expansion in a series to be the main and general method of analyzing functions, and in this matter he reached the heights of mastery. He used series to calculate tables, solve equations (including differential ones), study the behavior of functions. Newton managed to obtain a decomposition for all the functions that were standard at that time.

Newton developed differential and integral calculus simultaneously with G. Leibniz (a little earlier) and independently of him. Before Newton, actions with infinitesimals were not linked into a single theory and were in the nature of disparate witty tricks (see Method of Indivisibles). The creation of a systemic mathematical analysis reduces the solution of the corresponding problems, to a large extent, to a technical level. A complex of concepts, operations and symbols appeared, which became the starting base for the further development of mathematics. The next, the 18th century, was the century of rapid and extremely successful development of analytical methods.

Perhaps Newton came to the idea of ​​analysis through difference methods, which he studied extensively and deeply. True, in his "Principles" Newton almost did not use infinitesimals, adhering to the ancient (geometric) methods of proof, but in other works he used them freely.

The starting point for differential and integral calculus was the work of Cavalieri and especially Fermat, who already knew how (for algebraic curves) to draw tangents, find extrema, inflection points and curvature of a curve, and calculate the area of ​​its segment. Of the other predecessors, Newton himself named Wallis, Barrow and the Scottish scientist James Gregory. There was no concept of a function yet; he interpreted all curves kinematically as trajectories of a moving point.

Already a student, Newton realized that differentiation and integration are mutually inverse operations. This basic theorem of analysis was already more or less clearly outlined in the works of Torricelli, Gregory and Barrow, but only Newton realized that on this basis one could obtain not only individual discoveries, but a powerful systemic calculus, similar to algebra, with clear rules and gigantic possibilities.

For almost 30 years, Newton did not care about publishing his version of the analysis, although in letters (in particular to Leibniz) he willingly shares much of what he has achieved. In the meantime, Leibniz's version has been widely and openly distributed throughout Europe since 1676. Only in 1693 did the first presentation of Newton's version appear - in the form of an appendix to Wallis' Treatise on Algebra. We have to admit that Newton's terminology and symbolism are rather clumsy compared to Leibniz's: flux (derivative), fluent (antiderivative), moment of magnitude (differential), etc. Only Newton's designation has survived in mathematics. o» for an infinitesimal dt(however, Gregory used this letter in the same sense earlier), and even a dot above the letter as a symbol of the time derivative.

Newton published a fairly complete exposition of the principles of analysis only in the work "On the quadrature of curves" (1704), attached to his monograph "Optics". Almost all of the material presented was ready back in the 1670s-1680s, but only now Gregory and Halley persuaded Newton to publish a work that, 40 years late, became Newton's first published work on analysis. Here, Newton has derivatives of higher orders, the values ​​of integrals of various rational and irrational functions are found, examples of the solution of differential equations of the 1st order are given.

Newton's Universal Arithmetic, Latin Edition (1707)

In 1707, the book "Universal Arithmetic" was published. It presents a variety of numerical methods. Newton always paid great attention to the approximate solution of equations. Newton's famous method made it possible to find the roots of equations with previously unthinkable speed and accuracy (published in Algebra by Wallis, 1685). The modern form of Newton's iterative method was given by Joseph Raphson (1690).

In 1711, after 40 years, "Analysis by means of equations with an infinite number of terms" was finally published. In this work, Newton explores both algebraic and "mechanical" curves (cycloid, quadratrix) with equal ease. There are partial derivatives. In the same year, the “Method of Differences” was published, where Newton proposed an interpolation formula for passing through (n + 1) data points with equidistant or unequal abscissas of a polynomial n-th order. This is a difference analogue of the Taylor formula.

In 1736, the final work "Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series" was published posthumously, significantly advanced in comparison with "Analysis by Equations". It gives numerous examples of finding extrema, tangents and normals, calculating radii and centers of curvature in Cartesian and polar coordinates, finding inflection points, etc. In the same work, quadratures and rectifications of various curves were made.

It should be noted that Newton not only developed the analysis quite fully, but also made an attempt to rigorously substantiate its principles. If Leibniz leaned towards the idea of ​​actual infinitesimals, then Newton proposed (in the Elements) a general theory of passages to the limit, which he called somewhat ornately the "method of first and last ratios." It is the modern term "limit" (lat. limes), although there is no intelligible description of the essence of this term, implying an intuitive understanding. The theory of limits is set forth in 11 lemmas of book I of the "Beginnings"; one lemma is also in book II. There is no arithmetic of limits, there is no proof of the uniqueness of the limit, its connection with infinitesimals has not been revealed. However, Newton rightly points out that this approach is more rigorous than the "rough" method of indivisibles. Nevertheless, in book II, by introducing "moments" (differentials), Newton again confuses the matter, in fact considering them as actual infinitesimals.

It is noteworthy that Newton was not at all interested in number theory. Apparently, physics was much closer to him than mathematics.

Mechanics

Newton's Elements page with the axioms of mechanics

Newton's merit is the solution of two fundamental problems.

• Creation of an axiomatic basis for mechanics, which actually transferred this science to the category of rigorous mathematical theories.
• Creation of dynamics linking the behavior of the body with the characteristics of external influences on it (forces).

In addition, Newton finally buried the idea, which had taken root since ancient times, that the laws of motion of terrestrial and celestial bodies are completely different. In his model of the world, the entire universe is subject to uniform laws that allow mathematical formulation.

Newton's axiomatics consisted of three laws, which he himself formulated in the following form.

The first law (the law of inertia), in a less clear form, was published by Galileo. It should be noted that Galileo allowed free movement not only in a straight line, but also in a circle (apparently for astronomical reasons). Galileo also formulated the most important principle of relativity, which Newton did not include in his axiomatics, because for mechanical processes this principle is a direct consequence of the equations of dynamics (corollary V in the Elements). In addition, Newton considered space and time to be absolute concepts, common to the entire Universe, and clearly indicated this in his Elements.

Newton also gave rigorous definitions of such physical concepts as amount of movement(not quite clearly used by Descartes) and force. He introduced into physics the concept of mass as a measure of inertia and, at the same time, gravitational properties. Previously, physicists used the concept weight, however, the weight of the body depends not only on the body itself, but also on its environment (for example, on the distance to the center of the Earth), so a new, invariant characteristic was needed.

Euler and Lagrange completed the mathematization of mechanics.

gravity

Aristotle and his supporters considered gravity to be the desire of the bodies of the "sublunar world" to their natural places. Some other ancient philosophers (among them Empedocles, Plato) believed gravity to be the desire of related bodies to unite. In the 16th century, this point of view was supported by Nicolaus Copernicus, in whose heliocentric system the Earth was considered only one of the planets. Close views were held by Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei. Johannes Kepler believed that the reason for the fall of bodies is not their internal aspirations, but the force of attraction from the Earth, and not only the Earth attracts the stone, but the stone also attracts the Earth. In his opinion, gravity extends at least to the moon. In his later works, he expressed the opinion that the force of gravity decreases with distance and that all bodies of the solar system are subject to mutual attraction. Rene Descartes, Gilles Roberval, Christian Huygens and other scientists of the 17th century tried to unravel the physical nature of gravity.

The same Kepler was the first to suggest that the movement of the planets is controlled by forces emanating from the Sun. In his theory, there were three such forces: one, circular, pushes the planet in orbit, acting tangentially to the trajectory (due to this force, the planet moves), the other either attracts or repels the planet from the Sun (due to it, the planet’s orbit is an ellipse) and the third acts across the plane of the ecliptic (due to which the planet's orbit lies in the same plane). He considered the circular force to decrease inversely with the distance from the Sun. None of these three forces was identified with gravity. The Keplerian theory was rejected by the leading theoretical astronomer of the middle of the 17th century, Ismael Bulliald, according to whom, firstly, the planets move around the Sun not under the influence of forces emanating from it, but due to internal aspiration, and secondly, if a circular force existed , it would decrease back to the second power of the distance, and not to the first, as Kepler believed. Descartes believed that the planets were transported around the sun by giant whirlwinds.

The assumption of the existence of a force emanating from the Sun that controls the movement of the planets was expressed by Jeremy Horrocks. According to Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, three forces come from the Sun: one moves the planet in orbit, the other attracts the planet to the Sun, the third (centrifugal), on the contrary, repels the planet. The elliptical orbit of the planet is the result of the confrontation between the latter two. In 1666, Robert Hooke suggested that the force of attraction to the Sun alone is sufficient to explain the motion of the planets, you just need to assume that the planetary orbit is the result of a combination (superposition) of falling on the Sun (due to the force of gravity) and movement by inertia (due to tangent to the planet's trajectory). In his opinion, this superposition of movements determines the elliptical shape of the planet's trajectory around the Sun. Similar views, but in a rather vague form, were also expressed by Christopher Wren. Hooke and Ren guessed that the force of gravity decreases inversely with the square of the distance to the Sun.

However, no one before Newton was able to clearly and mathematically conclusively connect the law of gravity (a force inversely proportional to the square of distance) and the laws of planetary motion (Kepler's laws). Moreover, it was Newton who first guessed that gravity acts between any two bodies in the universe; the motion of a falling apple and the rotation of the moon around the earth are controlled by the same force. Finally, Newton not only published the alleged formula for the law of universal gravitation, but actually proposed a complete mathematical model:

• law of gravitation;
• the law of motion (Newton's second law);
• system of methods for mathematical research (mathematical analysis).

Taken together, this triad is sufficient to fully explore the most complex movements of celestial bodies, thus creating the foundations of celestial mechanics. Thus, only with the works of Newton does the science of dynamics begin, including its application to the motion of celestial bodies. Prior to the creation of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, no fundamental amendments to this model were needed, although the mathematical apparatus turned out to be necessary to be significantly developed.

The first argument in favor of the Newtonian model was the rigorous derivation of Kepler's empirical laws on its basis. The next step was the theory of the motion of comets and the moon, set out in the "Principles". Later, with the help of Newtonian gravity, all the observed movements of celestial bodies were explained with high accuracy; this is the great merit of Euler, Clairaut and Laplace, who developed the perturbation theory for this. The foundation of this theory was laid by Newton, who analyzed the motion of the moon using his usual series expansion method; along the way, he discovered the causes of the then known irregularities ( inequalities) in the motion of the moon.

The law of gravitation made it possible to solve not only the problems of celestial mechanics, but also a number of physical and astrophysical problems. Newton provided a method for determining the masses of the sun and planets. He discovered the cause of the tides: the attraction of the moon (even Galileo considered the tides to be a centrifugal effect). Moreover, having processed long-term data on the height of the tides, he calculated the mass of the moon with good accuracy. Another consequence of gravity was the precession of the earth's axis. Newton found out that due to the oblateness of the Earth at the poles, the earth's axis makes a constant slow displacement with a period of 26,000 years under the influence of the attraction of the Moon and the Sun. Thus, the ancient problem of the "anticipation of the equinoxes" (first noted by Hipparchus) found a scientific explanation.

Newton's theory of gravitation caused many years of debate and criticism of the long-range concept adopted in it. However, the outstanding successes of celestial mechanics in the 18th century confirmed the opinion about the adequacy of the Newtonian model. The first observed deviations from Newton's theory in astronomy (displacement of Mercury's perihelion) were discovered only 200 years later. Soon these deviations were explained by the general theory of relativity (GR); Newtonian theory turned out to be its approximate version. General relativity also filled the theory of gravitation with physical content, indicating the material carrier of the force of attraction - the metric of space-time, and made it possible to get rid of long-range interaction.

Optics and Theory of Light

Newton made fundamental discoveries in optics. He built the first mirror telescope (reflector) in which, unlike purely lens telescopes, there was no chromatic aberration. He also studied in detail the dispersion of light, showed that when white light passes through a transparent prism, it decomposes into a continuous series of rays of different colors due to the different refraction of rays of different colors, thereby Newton laid the foundations for the correct theory of colors. Newton created a mathematical theory of the interference rings discovered by Hooke, which have since been called "Newton's rings". In a letter to Flamsteed, he laid out a detailed theory of astronomical refraction. But his main achievement is the creation of the foundations of physical (not only geometric) optics as a science and the development of its mathematical base, the transformation of the theory of light from an unsystematic set of facts into a science with rich qualitative and quantitative content, experimentally well substantiated. Newton's optical experiments became a model of deep physical research for decades.

There were many speculative theories of light and color during this period; the point of view of Aristotle (“different colors are a mixture of light and darkness in different proportions”) and Descartes (“different colors are created when light particles rotate at different speeds”) fought mainly. Hooke, in his Micrographia (1665), offered a variant of Aristotelian views. Many believed that color is not an attribute of light, but of an illuminated object. The general discord was aggravated by a cascade of discoveries of the 17th century: diffraction (1665, Grimaldi), interference (1665, Hooke), double refraction (1670, Erasmus Bartholin, studied by Huygens), estimation of the speed of light (1675, Römer). There was no theory of light compatible with all these facts.

Light dispersion
(Newton's experience)

In his speech before the Royal Society, Newton refuted both Aristotle and Descartes, and convincingly proved that white light is not primary, but consists of colored components with different "degrees of refraction". These components are primary - Newton could not change their color by any tricks. Thus, the subjective sensation of color received a solid objective base - in modern terminology, the wavelength of light, which could be judged by the degree of refraction.

Title page of Newton's Optics

In 1689, Newton stopped publishing in the field of optics (although he continued research) - according to a common legend, he swore not to publish anything in this area during Hooke's lifetime. In any case, in 1704, the year after Hooke's death, the monograph "Optics" was published (in English). The preface to it contains a clear hint of a conflict with Hooke: "Not wanting to be drawn into disputes on various issues, I delayed this publication and would have delayed it further if not for the persistence of my friends." During the life of the author, "Optics", like "Beginnings", went through three editions (1704, 1717, 1721) and many translations, including three in Latin.

• Book one: the principles of geometric optics, the doctrine of the dispersion of light and the composition of white color, with various applications, including the theory of the rainbow.
• Book two: interference of light in thin plates.
• Book three: diffraction and polarization of light.

Historians distinguish two groups of then hypotheses about the nature of light.

• Emission (corpuscular): light consists of small particles (corpuscles) emitted by a luminous body. This opinion was supported by the straightness of light propagation, on which geometric optics is based, but diffraction and interference did not fit well into this theory.
• Wave: light is a wave in the invisible world ether. Newton's opponents (Hooke, Huygens) are often called supporters of the wave theory, but it must be borne in mind that they understood the wave not as a periodic oscillation, as in modern theory, but as a single impulse; for this reason, their explanations of light phenomena were not very plausible and could not compete with Newton's (Huygens even tried to refute diffraction). Developed wave optics appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century.

Newton is often considered a supporter of the corpuscular theory of light; in fact, he, as usual, "did not invent hypotheses" and willingly admitted that light could also be associated with waves in the ether. In a treatise presented to the Royal Society in 1675, he writes that light cannot simply be vibrations of the ether, since then, for example, it could propagate along a curved tube, as sound does. But, on the other hand, he suggests that the propagation of light excites vibrations in the ether, which gives rise to diffraction and other wave effects. In essence, Newton, clearly aware of the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, puts forward a compromise, corpuscular-wave theory of light. In his works, Newton described in detail the mathematical model of light phenomena, leaving aside the question of the physical carrier of light: “My teaching about the refraction of light and colors consists solely in establishing certain properties of light without any hypotheses about its origin.” Wave optics, when it appeared, did not reject Newton's models, but absorbed them and expanded them on a new basis.

Despite his dislike of hypotheses, Newton placed at the end of Optics a list of unsolved problems and possible answers to them. However, during these years he could already afford this - Newton's authority after the "Principles" became indisputable, and few people dared to bother him with objections. A number of hypotheses turned out to be prophetic. Specifically, Newton predicted:

• deflection of light in a gravitational field;
• the phenomenon of light polarization;
• interconversion of light and matter.

Other works in physics

Newton owns the first conclusion of the speed of sound in a gas, based on the Boyle-Mariotte law. He suggested the existence of the law of viscous friction and described the hydrodynamic compression of the jet. He proposed a formula for the law of resistance of a body in a rarefied medium (Newton's formula) and, on its basis, considered one of the first problems on the most advantageous shape of a streamlined body (Newton's aerodynamic problem). In the Elements, he expressed and argued the correct assumption that the comet has a solid nucleus, the evaporation of which, under the influence of solar heat, forms an extensive tail, always directed in the direction opposite to the Sun. Newton also dealt with heat transfer issues, one of the results is called the Newton-Richmann law.

Newton predicted that the Earth would be flattened at the poles, estimating it to be about 1:230. At the same time, Newton used a model of a homogeneous fluid to describe the Earth, applied the law of universal gravitation and took into account the centrifugal force. At the same time, similar calculations were performed by Huygens, who did not believe in the long-range gravitational force and approached the problem purely kinematically. Accordingly, Huygens predicted more than half the contraction as Newton, 1:576. Moreover, Cassini and other Cartesians argued that the Earth is not compressed, but stretched out at the poles like a lemon. Subsequently, although not immediately (the first measurements were inaccurate), direct measurements (Clero, 1743) confirmed Newton's correctness; real compression is 1:298. The reason for the difference of this value from that proposed by Newton in the direction of Huygens is that the model of a homogeneous fluid is still not quite accurate (the density increases noticeably with depth). A more accurate theory, explicitly taking into account the dependence of density on depth, was developed only in the 19th century.

Students

Strictly speaking, Newton had no direct students. However, a whole generation of English scientists grew up on his books and in communication with him, so they themselves considered themselves students of Newton. Among them, the most famous are:

• Edmund Halley
• Roger Coates
• Colin Maclaurin
• Abraham de Moivre
• James Stirling
• Brooke Taylor
• William Whiston

Other areas of activity

Chemistry and Alchemy

In parallel with the research that laid the foundation for the current scientific (physical and mathematical) tradition, Newton (like many of his colleagues) devoted a lot of time to alchemy, as well as theology. Books on alchemy made up a tenth of his library. He did not publish any works on chemistry or alchemy, and the only known result of this long-term hobby was the serious poisoning of Newton in 1691. During the exhumation of Newton's body, hazardous mercury levels were found in his body.

Stukeley recalls that Newton wrote a treatise on chemistry "explaining the principles of this mysterious art on the basis of experimental and mathematical evidence," but the manuscript was unfortunately burned in a fire, and Newton made no attempt to restore it. The surviving letters and notes suggest that Newton was thinking about the possibility of some unification of the laws of physics and chemistry into a single system of the world; he placed several hypotheses on this subject at the end of Optics.

B. G. Kuznetsov believes that Newton's alchemical studies were attempts to reveal the atomistic structure of matter and other types of matter (for example, light, heat, magnetism):

Was Newton an alchemist? He believed in the possibility of transforming one metal into another, and for three decades he was engaged in alchemical research and studied the alchemical works of the Middle Ages and antiquity... his atomistics is based on the idea of ​​a hierarchy of corpuscles, formed by less and less intense forces of mutual attraction of parts. This idea of ​​an infinite hierarchy of discrete particles of matter is connected with the idea of ​​the unity of matter. Newton did not believe in the existence of elements that could not transform into each other. On the contrary, he assumed that the idea of ​​the indecomposability of particles and, accordingly, of the qualitative differences between elements is associated with the historically limited possibilities of experimental technology.

This assumption is confirmed by the statement of Newton himself: “Alchemy does not deal with metals, as the ignorant believe. This philosophy is not one of those that serve vanity and deceit, it rather serves the benefit and edification, moreover, the main thing here is the knowledge of God.

Theology

"Refined Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms"

Being a deeply religious person, Newton considered the Bible (like everything else) from a rationalistic position. With this approach, apparently, Newton's rejection of the Trinity of God is also connected. Most historians believe that Newton, who worked for many years at Trinity College, did not himself believe in the Trinity. Researchers of his theological works have found that Newton's religious views were close to heretical Arianism (see Newton's article " Historical Tracing of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture»).

The degree of proximity of Newton's views to various heresies condemned by the church is estimated differently. The German historian Fiesenmeier suggested that Newton accepted the Trinity, but closer to the Eastern, Orthodox understanding of it. The American historian Stephen Snobelen, citing a number of documentary evidence, strongly rejected this point of view and attributed Newton to the Socinians.

Outwardly, however, Newton remained loyal to the established Church of England. There was a good reason for this: the 1698 Legislative Act for the Suppression of Blasphemy and Impiety. The Act for the Suppression of Blasphemy and Profaneness ) for the denial of any of the persons of the Trinity provided for a defeat in civil rights, and if this crime was repeated, imprisonment. For example, Newton's friend William Whiston was stripped of his professorship and expelled from the University of Cambridge in 1710 for his claims that Arianism was the religion of the early Church. However, in letters to like-minded people (Locke, Halley, etc.), Newton was quite frank.

In addition to antitrinitarianism, elements of deism are seen in Newton's religious worldview. Newton believed in the material presence of God at every point in the universe and called space the "sensory seat of God" (lat. sensorium Dei). This pantheistic idea combines Newton's scientific, philosophical and theological views into a single whole, "all areas of Newton's interests, from natural philosophy to alchemy, are different projections and at the same time different contexts of this central idea that completely owned him."

Newton published (partially) the results of his theological research late in his life, but they began much earlier, no later than 1673. Newton proposed his version of biblical chronology, left work on biblical hermeneutics, and wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse. He studied the Hebrew language, studied the Bible according to a scientific method, using astronomical calculations related to solar eclipses, linguistic analysis, etc. to substantiate his point of view. According to his calculations, the end of the world will come no earlier than 2060.

Newton's theological manuscripts are now kept in Jerusalem, in the National Library.

Ratings

Statue of Newton at Trinity College

The inscription on Newton's grave reads:

Here lies Sir Isaac Newton, who, with an almost divine power of reason, was the first to explain, by means of his mathematical method, the motion and form of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the oceans.

He was the one who investigated the differences in light rays and the various properties of colors resulting from them, which no one had previously suspected. Diligent, cunning and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity and Holy Scripture, he affirmed with his philosophy the greatness of the almighty creator, and by his temper he propagated the simplicity required by the Gospel.

May mortals rejoice that such an adornment of the human race lived among them.

original text(lat.)

H. S. E. ISAACUS NEWTON Eques Auratus,
Qui, animi vi prope divinâ,
Planetarum Motus, Figuras,
Cometarum semitas, Oceanique Aestus. Suâ Mathesi facem praeferente
Primus demonstration:
Radiorum Lucis dissimilitudines,
Colorumque inde nascentium proprietates,
Quas nemo antea vel suspicatus erat, pervestigavit.
Naturae, Antiquitatis, S. Scripturae,
Sedulus, sagax, fidus Interpres
Dei O. M. Majestatem Philosophiâ asseruit,
Evangelij Simplicitatem Moribus expressit.
Sibi Gratulentur Mortales,
Tale tantumque exstitisse
HUMANI GENERIS DECUS.
NAT. XXV Dec. A.D. MDCXLII. OBIIT. XX. MAR. MDCCXXVI.

> > Isaac Newton

Biography of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Short biography:

Education: Cambridge university

Place of Birth: Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Place of death: Kensington, Middlesex, England, Kingdom of Great Britain

- English astronomer, physicist, mathematician: biography with photo, ideas and classical physics of Newton, the law of universal gravitation, three laws of motion.

Sir was an English physicist and mathematician from a poor farming family. Him short biography began December 25, 1642 at Woolsthorpe near Grantham in Lincolnshire. Newton was a poor farmer and was eventually sent to Trinity College at the University of Cambridge for training as a preacher. While studying at Cambridge, Newton pursued his personal interests and studied philosophy and mathematics. He received his bachelor's degree in 1665 and was later forced to leave Cambridge as it was closed due to the plague. He returned in 1667 and was admitted to the fraternity. Isaac Newton received his master's degree in 1668.

Newton is considered one of the greatest scientists in history. In the course of his brief biography, he made significant investments in many branches of modern science. Unfortunately, the famous story of Newton and the apple is largely based on fiction rather than real events. His discoveries and theories laid the foundation for further progress in science since that time. Newton was one of the founders of the mathematical branch, which was referred to as calculus. He also unraveled the riddle of light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and with their help created the law of universal gravitation. Newton's laws of motion are among the most fundamental natural laws in classical mechanics. In 1686, Newton described his own discoveries in his Principia Mathematica. Newton's three laws of motion, when unified, underlie all interactions of force, matter, and motion, beyond those involving relativity and quantum effects.

Newton's first law of motion is the Law of Inertia. In short, it lies in the fact that an object at rest tends to remain in this state until it is affected by an external force.

Newton's second law of motion states that there is a relationship between unbalanced forces acting on a particular object. As a result, the object accelerates. (In other words, force equals mass times acceleration, or F = ma).

Newton's third law of motion, also referred to as the principle of action and reaction, describes that absolutely for every action there is an equivalent response. After a severe nervous breakdown in 1693, Newton withdrew from his own studies to seek a governorship in London. In 1696 he became rector of the Royal Mint. In 1708 Newton was elected Queen Anne. He is the first scientist to be so honored for his work. From that moment on, he was known as Sir Isaac Newton. The scientist devoted much of his time to theology. He wrote a large number of prophecies and predictions about subjects that were of interest to him. In 1703 he was chosen to be President of the Royal Society and was re-elected every year until his death on March 20, 1727.