Isaac Newton was born into a farmer's family in the village of Wilsthorpe, Lincolnshire, in the east of England, off the coast of the North Sea. After successfully graduating from school in the city of Grantham, the young man entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. Among the famous graduates of the college are the philosopher Francis Bacon, Lord Byron, the writer Vladimir Nabokov, the kings of England Edward VII and George VI, Prince Charles of Wales. Interestingly, Newton became a bachelor in 1664, having already made his first discovery. With the outbreak of the plague, the young scientist went home, but in 1667 he returned to Cambridge, and in 1668 he became a master of Trinity College. The following year, the 26-year-old Newton became professor of mathematics and optics, succeeding his teacher Barrow, who was appointed royal chaplain. In 1696, King William III of Orange appointed Newton superintendent of the Mint, and three years later, manager. In this position, the scientist actively fought against counterfeiters and carried out several reforms that, decades later, led to an increase in the country's welfare. In 1714, Newton wrote an article "Observations on the Value of Gold and Silver", thereby summarizing his experience of financial regulation in public office.
Fact
Isaac Newton never married.
14 major discoveries of Isaac Newton
1. Binomial Newton. Newton made his first mathematical discovery at the age of 21. As a student, he deduced the binomial formula. Newton's binomial is a formula for expanding into a polynomial of an arbitrary natural degree of a binomial (a + b) to the degree n. Everyone today knows the formula for the square of the sum a + b, but in order not to make a mistake with the determination of the coefficients when the exponent increases, Newton's binomial formula is used. Through this discovery, the scientist came to his other important discovery - the expansion of a function into an infinite series, later called the Newton-Leibniz formula.
2. Algebraic curve of the 3rd order. Newton proved that for any cube (algebraic curve) it is possible to choose a coordinate system in which it will have one of the types indicated by him, and also divided the curves into classes, genera and types.
3. Differential and integral calculus. Newton's main analytical achievement was the expansion of all possible functions into power series. In addition, he created a table of antiderivatives (integrals), which entered almost unchanged into all modern textbooks of mathematical analysis. The invention allowed the scientist, according to him, to compare the areas of any figures "in half a quarter of an hour."
4. Newton's method. Newton's algorithm (also known as the tangent method) is an iterative numerical method for finding the root (zero) of a given function.
5. Color theory. At 22, in the words of the scientist himself, he "received the theory of colors." It was Newton who first divided the continuous spectrum into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The nature of color and experiments with the decomposition of white into 7 component colors, described in Newton's Optics, formed the basis for the development of modern optics.
6. The law of universal gravitation. In 1686, Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation. The idea of gravitational force was expressed earlier (for example, by Epicurus and Descartes), but before Newton, no one was able to mathematically connect the law of gravitation (a force proportional to the square of distance) and the laws of planetary motion (that is, Kepler's laws). Newton was the first to guess that gravity acts between any two bodies in the Universe, that the motion of a falling apple and the rotation of the Moon around the Earth are controlled by the same force. Thus, Newton's discovery formed the basis of another science - celestial mechanics.
7. Newton's first law: Law of inertia. The first of the three laws underlying classical mechanics. Inertia is the property of a body to keep its speed of motion unchanged in magnitude and direction when no forces act on it.
8. Newton's second law: The differential law of motion. The law describes the relationship between the force applied to the body (material point) and the acceleration following this.
9. Newton's third law. The law describes how two material points interact and states that the force of action is opposite in direction to the force of interaction. In addition, force is always the result of the interaction of bodies. And no matter how bodies interact with each other through forces, they cannot change their total momentum: hence follows the Law of Conservation of Momentum. Dynamics based on Newton's laws is called classical dynamics and describes the movements of objects with velocities ranging from fractions of millimeters per second to kilometers per second.
10. Reflecting telescope. The optical telescope, where a mirror is used as a light-collecting element, despite its small size, gave a high-quality 40-fold magnification. Thanks to his invention in 1668, Newton gained fame and became a member of the Royal Society. Later, improved reflectors became the main tools of astronomers, with their help, in particular, the planet Uranus was discovered.
11. Mass. Mass as a scientific term was introduced by Newton as a measure of the amount of matter: before that, natural scientists operated with the concept of weight.
12. Newton's pendulum. A mechanical system of several balls suspended on threads in the same plane, oscillating in this plane and hitting each other, was invented to demonstrate the transformation of energy of various types into each other: kinetic into potential or vice versa. The invention went down in history as "Newton's Cradle".
13. Interpolation formulas. Computational mathematics formulas are used to find intermediate values of a quantity given a discrete (discontinuous) set of known values.
14. "Universal Arithmetic". In 1707, Newton published a monograph on algebra, and thus made a great contribution to the development of this branch of mathematics. Among the discoveries of Newton's work: one of the first formulations of the fundamental theorem of algebra and a generalization of Descartes' theorem.
One of Newton's most famous philosophical sayings:
In philosophy, there can be no sovereign other than 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."
Known to every schoolchild, the great English scientist was born on December 24, 1642, according to the old style, or on January 4, 1643, according to the current biography of which originates in the town of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, was born so weak that they did not dare to baptize him for a long time. However, the boy survived and, despite poor health in childhood, managed to live to an advanced age.
Childhood
Isaac's father died before he was born. Mother, Anna Ayskow, widowed early, remarried, having given birth to three more children from her new husband. She paid little attention to her eldest son. Newton, whose biography in childhood seemed to be prosperous, suffered greatly from loneliness and lack of attention from his mother.
The boy was more cared for by his uncle, Anna Ayskoe's brother. As a child, Isaac was a withdrawn, silent child, with a penchant for making various technical crafts, such as a sundial.
School years
In 1955, at the age of 12, Isaac Newton was sent to school. Shortly before this
his stepfather dies, and his mother inherits his fortune, immediately reissuing it to his eldest son. The school was in Grantham, and Newton lived with the local apothecary, Clark. During his studies, his outstanding abilities were revealed, but four years later his mother returned the 16-year-old boy home with the aim of entrusting him with the duties of managing the farm.
But agriculture was not his business. Reading books, writing poetry, constructing complex mechanisms - this was the whole of Newton. It was at this moment that his biography determined its direction towards science. School teacher Stokes, Uncle William and a member of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, Humphrey Babington, combined their efforts to continue the education of Isaac Newton.
Universities
In Cambridge, a short biography of Newton is as follows:
- 1661 - admission to Trinity College at the university for free education as a "sizer" student.
- 1664 - the successful passing of exams and transfer to the next stage of education as a "schoolboy" student, which gave him the right to receive a scholarship and the opportunity to continue his education further.
At the same time, Newton, whose biography recorded a creative upsurge and the beginning of an independent, got acquainted with Isaac Barrow, a new mathematics teacher who had a strong influence on the hobby
In total, Trinity College was given a long period of life (30 years) and mathematics, but it was here that he made his first discoveries (binomial expansion for an arbitrary rational exponent and expansion of a function into an infinite series) and created, based on the teachings of Galileo, Descartes and Kepler, the universal system of the world.
Years of great achievements and glory
With the outbreak of the plague in 1665, classes at the college ceased, and Newton left for his estate in Woolsthorpe, where the most significant discoveries were made - optical experiments with the colors of the spectrum,
In 1667, the scientist returned to Trinity College, where he continued his research in the field of physics, mathematics, and optics. The telescope he created caused rave reviews in the Royal Society.
In 1705, Newton, whose photo can be found in every textbook today, was the first to be awarded the title of knight precisely for scientific achievements. The number of discoveries in various fields of science is very large. Monumental works on mathematics, fundamentals of mechanics, in the field of astronomy, optics, and physics turned scientists' ideas about the world upside down.
The whole picture of the world, created by the great English scientist Isaac Newton, still amazes scientists. Newton's merit is that both huge celestial bodies and the smallest grains of sand driven by the wind obey the laws he discovered.
Isaac Newton was born in England on January 4, 1643. At 26, he became a professor of mathematics and physics and taught for 27 years. In the first years of his scientific activity, he became interested in optics, where he made many discoveries. He personally made the first mirror telescope, which magnified 40 times (at that time, a considerable amount).
From 1676, Newton began to study mechanics. The scientist outlined the main discoveries in this area in the monumental work “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”. Everything that was known about the simplest forms of motion of matter was told in the Elements. Newton's doctrine of space, mass and force was of great importance for the further development of physics. Only the discoveries of the 20th century, especially those of Einstein, showed the limitations of the laws on which Newton's theory of classical mechanics was built. But despite this, classical mechanics has not lost its practical significance.
Isaac Newton laid out the law of universal gravitation and the three laws of mechanics, which became the basis of classical mechanics. He gave a theory of the motion of celestial bodies, creating the foundations of celestial mechanics. He developed differential and integral calculus, made many discoveries in the science of optics and color theory, developed a number of other mathematical and physical theories. Newton's scientific works were far ahead of the general scientific level of his time, and therefore many of them were obscure to contemporaries. Many of his hypotheses and predictions turned out to be prophetic, for example, the deflection of light in the gravitational field, the phenomenon of light polarization, the interconversion of light and matter, the hypothesis of the Earth being flattened at the poles, etc.
The following words are carved on the grave of the great scientist:
"Here rests
Sir Isaac Newton,
Who by the almost divine power of his mind
first explained
With the help of your mathematical method
The movements and forms of the planets,
The paths of comets, the ebbs and flows of the ocean.
He was the first to explore the diversity of light rays
And the peculiarities of colors resulting from this,
Until that time, no one even suspected.
Diligent, shrewd and faithful interpreter
Nature, antiquities and sacred writings,
He glorified the Almighty Creator in his teaching.
He proved the simplicity required by the Gospel with his own life.
Let mortals rejoice that in their midst
Such an adornment of the human race lived.
Sir Isaac Newton. Born December 25, 1642 - died March 20, 1727. 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.
Isaac Newton was born in 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, 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. Together, they eventually succeeded.
In 1661, Newton successfully graduated from school and went to continue his education at Cambridge University.
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 ranks of student "sizers" (sizar), from whom they did not take tuition fees (probably on the recommendation of Babington). 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 his exams, moved into the higher student category of "schoolboys" (scholars), which made him eligible for a scholarship and continued education in college.
Despite the discoveries of Galileo, science and philosophy were still taught at Cambridge. However, Newton's surviving notebooks already mention 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.
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 points) of unresolved problems in nature and human life (Questionnaire, Latin 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 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: 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"".
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.
But his most significant discovery during these years was law of gravity. 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 the relation of the earth's gravity and the conatus recedendi [tendency] of the moon to the center of the earth, although not entirely accurate".
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.
well known the legend that Newton discovered the law of gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree branch. For the first time, “Newton's apple” was briefly mentioned by Newton's biographer William Stukeley (book “Memoirs of the Life of Newton”, 1752): “After dinner, warm weather set in, we went out into the garden and drank tea in the shade of apple trees. 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.
Newton Isaac. Newton's bone of contention
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 basics of analysis, it was found only 300 years later.
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 organ of the Royal Society was 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 using 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.
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. Second: he became interested in Newton's mathematical discoveries, known at that time as a philosopher and inventor.
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.
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 Newton 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). Probably Newton made the strongest impression on Montagu, because in 1696, having become Lord Halifax, President of the Royal Society and Chancellor of the Exchequer (that is, the Minister of Finance of England), Montagu proposed to the king appoint Newton to be caretaker of 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 during the 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.
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 is a gloomy heretic
Newton was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. From now on, he is 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.
In 1708, an open priority dispute with Leibniz began, 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.
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 to the end of the book "Instruction" 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.
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.
Legends and myths about Newton:
Several common legends have already been cited above: “Newton's apple”, his only parliamentary speech.
There is a legend that Newton made two holes in his door - one larger, the other smaller, so that his two cats, large and small, could enter the house on their own. In reality, Newton never kept cats or other pets.
Another myth accuses Newton of destroying the only portrait of Hooke, once held by the Royal Society. In fact, there is not a single piece of evidence in favor of such an accusation. Allan Chapman, Hooke's biographer, argues that no portrait of Hooke existed at all (which is not surprising, given the high cost of portraits and Hooke's constant financial difficulties). The only source of the assumption of the existence of such a portrait is the mention of the portrait of a certain “Hoock” (Hoock) who visited the Royal Society in 1710, but Uffenbach did not speak English and, most likely, had in mind a portrait of another member of the society, Theodor Haack (Theodore Haak). The portrait of Haack really existed and has survived to this day. An additional argument in favor of the opinion that there was never a portrait of Hooke is the fact that Hooke's friend and secretary of the Society, Richard Waller, published in 1705 a posthumous collection of Hooke's works with excellent quality of illustrations and a detailed biography, but without Hooke's portrait; all other works of Hooke also do not contain a portrait of the scientist.
Newton is credited with an interest in astrology. If he was, it quickly gave way to disappointment.
From the fact of Newton's unexpected appointment as Governor of the Mint, some biographers conclude that Newton was a member of a Masonic lodge or other secret society. However, no documentary evidence has been found to support this hypothesis.
Newton's works:
"A New Theory of Light and Colors" - 1672
"The movement of bodies in orbit" - 1684
"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" - 1687
"Optics or Treatise on Reflections, Refractions, Curvature and Colors of Light" - 1704
"On the quadrature of curves" - an appendix to "Optics"
"Enumeration of lines of the third order" - an appendix to "Optics"
"Universal Arithmetic" - 1707
"Analysis by means of equations with an infinite number of terms" - 1711
"Method of Differences" - 1711
"Lectures on Optics" - 1728
"System of the World" - 1728
"Brief Chronicle" - 1728
"Chronology of ancient kingdoms" - 1728
"Remarks on the Book of the Prophet Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John" - 1733
"Method of Fluxions" - 1736
"Historical Tracing of Two Notable Corruptions of the Holy Scriptures" - 1754.
> > Isaac Newton
Biography of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Short biography:
Education: Cambridge university
Place of Birth: Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
A 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. His 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.
