#newton opticks

[blightowlsreblogblog]

Hey fam! I have some info!

You know how they say a writer reveals a lot about themselves in their own work? Well boy have I got great news for you! And if you act now we'll include a second set absolutely free!

Huygens's Treatise on Light is a fantastic resource for info on his personality. And if you happen to be into physics, geometry, or the history of science, then it's also informative!

Here is a full online version of the Treatise on Light text in English (courtesy of Project Gutenberg). And here's a link to the Wikipedia article about it if you want some quick background on the science.

Some notes and my thoughts below the cut:

If you are reading Treatise on Light for the science, it's a pretty slow read. It's a lot of geometry proofs written in late 17th century language.

If you are skipping over the sciency bits for Huygens's voice, it should be pretty quick!

The best parts to look for Huygens's "voice" would probably be in the Preface and in the introductions to each section where he explains more of the concepts. That's where he gets more prose-y and reflective (ha optics pun).

When he's in the nitty-gritty of his proofs, his writing is usually more technical. He makes fewer personal tangents (ha! geometry pun! I'm on a roll!) in these sections.

Treatise is also short when compared to Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks, its scientific counterpart. Opticks is a freaking brick. Like you could read it and also probably stop a train with it.

It's funny how that worked out because Newton's view is "light is particle" (light is throwable, like brick, yes?) while Huygens's view is "light is wave"

Hah. Anyway

Huygens continually referred to other scientists.

As in when he's drawing on another's work, he was very clear about giving them credit. This may have be the etiquette of the time, but he also did it with emphasis.

For example, he described Øle Rømer's work on the speed of light as "the ingenious proof of Mr. Römer which I am here going to relate"

I have a bias so take this with a grain of salt: When I read Huygens's Treatise and Newton's Opticks, Huygens seemed much more deferential about including the names of other scientists. Newton was more like "oh yeah and these other guys did stuff too I GUESS."

Did I mention I have a beef with Newton? The man got butthurt over Leibniz independently developing calculus at the same time as him and accused Leibniz of cheating. Literally ruined the man's life over it. Look, Newton was justifiably a big deal and he did a lot of great things. We owe a lot to Newton. But he was also a big whiny shit. Okay I'm done sorry 😅

Here's an excerpt, from the Preface (pg viii):

I would believe then that those who love to know the Causes of things and who are able to admire the marvels of Light, will find some satisfaction in these various speculations regarding it, and in the new explanation of its famous property which is the main foundation of the construction of our eyes and of those great inventions which extend so vastly the use of them.

Here it is again, with my emphasis

I would believe then that those who love to know the Causes of things and who are able to admire the marvels of Light, will find some satisfaction in these various speculations regarding it, and in the new explanation of its famous property which is the main foundation of the construction of our eyes and of those great inventions which extend so vastly the use of them.

He loves knowing about the causes of things. He wants to share that love with other people who also love knowing about the causes of things.

Because they might get some satisfaction from what he can share. Maybe. If they want. 👉👈

He's been admiring the marvels of light, and wants to share and honestly that's what this is all about! Light!

Light's the star of the show here! (No pun intended) Huygens is just offering a new way to look at it. He said "light is what we're here for, right? Our eyes are built for light. We invented things so our eyes can see even more light. I just want to admire the light plz. c:"

Lastly, don't skip the translator's note!

The text was originally published in French. The translator, Silvanus P. Thompson, adds in his own commentary about Huygens's personality. His thoughts are definitely worth a read!

Notably, his thoughts are also more succinct than mine! 😅🤣

Also I forgot to ask, why are you looking for info about Huygens? Other than, as the mans himself said, to admire the marvels of light 🥹

SOMEBODY PLEASE.

IM ACTUALLY SO MAD WHY IS THERE NEXT TO NO INFO ABOUT CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS’ PERSONALITY I KNOW IT SEEMS TRIVIAL BUT ITS IMPORTANT TO ME 😔😔 SOMEONE PLEASE RELL ME IF THERES A GOOD SOURCE TO FIND MORE INFO ON HIM PLEEEASSEEE!!!!!!!

[frimleyblogger]

Forty-Two And The Rainbow

Why the number 42 is so key to understanding and seeing a #rainbow

A rainbow never fails to enchant, a transient moment of celestial beauty, even though it is one the commonest of meteorological phenomena. For Keats it was enough to admire it for what it is, railing against Isaac Newton in 1817 for destroying “the poetry of the rainbow” by “reducing it to a prism” and, in Lamia (1820), lamenting that scientists “will… conquer all mysteries by rule and line/…

[shenefelts]

Opticks by Isaac Newton But It Seems The Poor Guy Is Spacing Out (The Special Ones) Page Preview

He is describing God!

He is describing God!

He is describing God!

If you give a man of science an ego he’ll demand you give him a microphone to start a podcast to tell you what else to do with your life.

Hint: It isn’t to think for yourself, no there’s a podcast for that.

I would know, I seen a podcast about this stuff.

http://shenefelts.org

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Color Theory

Color theory is a set of guidelines for mixing, combining, and manipulating colors. Color theory includes ideas like:

Color harmony: Color harmony describes color pairings that are visually pleasing and provide a sense of visual order. Color schemes based on complementary and analogous colors are generally perceived as harmonious. But, since humans respond to colors differently depending on personal preferences and life experiences, there are no universally “right” colors for achieving harmony.

Color temperature: Color temperature deals with breaking colors down into warm colors (associated with sunset and daylight) and cool colors (associated with overcast light). Experimenting with combinations of warm and cool colors can help you mix colors to achieve a particular effect.

Color context: Colors appear to behave differently when viewed in different contexts. For instance, a rusty orange may seem dull and subdued when placed beside a vivid yellow, but when paired with a dark purple, the orange suddenly seems much brighter.

Color Wheel - a circle diagram that illustrates the relationships between different colors.

Sir Isaac Newton developed the first color wheel in his 1704 book Opticks.

Newton created an asymmetrical color wheel with 7 colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

In 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe developed a symmetrical color wheel with just 6 colors (eliminating indigo) that is similar to the one we commonly use today.

Artists and designers use color wheels to create color schemes that produce a desired artistic effect.

Primary Colors - colors that combine to make a range of other colors.

Traditionally, these are red, yellow, and blue.

In the RYB color model, the primary colors form a triadic color scheme—a group of three colors spaced evenly apart from each other on the color wheel.

When mixed, these three primary colors form many other colors.

More accurate color theories actually use different primary colors.

The CMYK color printing model deals with printed colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. It is a method of subtractive color mixing in which printed colors absorb (i.e. subtract) light and combine to form a range of colors, including red, blue, and green.

The RGB color model applies to colored light—like the light that emits from a phone or computer screen; its primary colors are red, green, and blue.

The model is a method of additive color mixing, meaning that different colors of light combine (i.e. add) to form other colors, including cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Secondary Colors - the result of mixing two primary colors.

In the traditional color model, the 3 secondary colors are:

green (yellow + blue), orange (yellow + red), and purple (red + blue).

Tertiary Colors - the combination of one primary color with one secondary color.

There are 6 tertiary colors on the traditional color wheel:

magenta (red-purple), vermillion (red-orange), amber (yellow-orange), chartreuse (yellow-green), teal (blue-green), and violet (blue-purple).

Complementary Colors - colors found opposite each other on the color wheel.

Complementary color schemes include blue with orange, red with green, and yellow with purple.

These contrasting colors can make a bold statement when paired in fashion, film, photography, and other forms of art.

Analogous Colors - colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.

Analogous color schemes include yellow paired with chartreuse and green; red with vermillion and orange; and blue with teal and violet.

The 3 colors in each pairing share a common hue, so they appear to match.

Color Temperature - the way to measure the color of visible light.

The unit used to measure color temperature is degrees kelvin.

The best way to understand color temperature is to visualize a piece of metal being extended into a fire.

The color of the metal will change depending on how long it’s held in the fire and how hot it gets.

The metal will range from red to warm white to blue as it heats.

This is also the general range of colors from one end of the color temperature scale to the other.

The Kelvin Temperature Scale. The kelvin scale consists of units of measurement that relate to the color of a light source. The higher the Kelvin number, the closer it is to replicating bright sunlight. In general, higher temperatures on the kelvin scale, the whiter or bluer a light appears. The lower the number, the more yellow and red the light appears.

In order to understand the kelvin range and how kelvin color temperature applies to different light sources, it’s useful to review a few identifiable lights and their kelvin color temperature value.

Candlelight, for instance, generally has a color temperature of around 1500K.

The sunrise and sunset are usually measured around 3200K.

An overcast sky usually has a color temperature of around 9000K.

The current color temperature scale in use is known as the correlated color temperature (CCT) scale and is based around the color emitted by an incandescent bulb.

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[youzicha]

Newton vs Goethe

Goethe wrote about the physics of color and claimed to find effects that the Newtonian theory overlooked. Somehow while reading popular science I got the impression that Newton explains the spectrum while Goethe's theory reaches further and is relevant to perceptual phenomenons (e.g. cyan-yellow opposition). But reading the Wikipedia page, Goethe comes off very poorly.

Actually the things that Goethe considered critical evidence was not experiments related to human-color perception, but rather experiments with prisms. He refracted extended, rather than point-sized, light sources; for example, he noted that looking at a field of white light through a prism gives white light, and that looking at a white-black boundary can give either blue-violet or red-yellow depending on the orientation of the prism. From this he concluded that the source of color is a mixture of light and darkness, and that this proves Newton wrong—according to Goethe, Newton's experiment with a point source is just a special case when a dark-light and a light-dark boundary are right next to each other.

Of course, we now know that the effects Goethe observed arise from adding together spectra, so Newton's experiment with a point source is exactly the interesting case and the rest can be deduced from it. I guess Newton knew this also. Certainly he must have seen all the same effects that Goethe did, and he mentions (Opticks part II prop I) the need to make the prism large compared to the light aperture.

Newton and Goethe make a nice case study of science. Text books and papers are cleaned up to highlight the interesting result and how it is predicted by the model, but if you actually do experiments there's a jumble of confusing effects, and the scientist needs to figure out which of them are crucial and which are distractions. Here they did basically the same experiment, and one of them understood the composition of light and devised the exact right experiments to prove it, while the other messed around but never understood what was going on. The latter seems like the more typical outcome, but it's a bit unfortunate that Goethe did it a hundred years after Newton.

[dreams-of-mutiny]

"What is there in places almost devoid of matter, and from where does the sun and planets gravitate toward each other without any sensible matter between them? From where does nature not work in vain, and from where does all that order and beauty we see in the world arise? To what end are comets driven, and from what is it that all the planets move in the same way in concentric orbs, while comets move in very eccentric ways in their orbs, and what prevents the fixed stars from falling one upon another?"

— Isaac Newton (Opticks (1717). Óp. cit., p. 344.)

[othmeralia]

A Valentines Gift for Our Fellow Bibliophiles

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun bibliophile as "A lover of books; a book-fancier; also as adjective."

Decorative tailpiece in Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections and colours of light / by Sir Isaac Newton, 1718.

[is-newtonswife]

Doodle)

Spinoza reading Newton’s Opticks

My friend and I thought Spinoza would have loved Newton’s Opticks if he had had the chance to read it.

[rattenmann]

so according to the potc fandom wikki, cutler beckett was born in 1687, making him 18 in 1705. isaac newtons book Opticks came out in 1704. so according to the potc wikki, becketts idol released a book one year before becketts life was absolutely torn apart and thrown into the meat shredder known as the eitc.

[elkement]

I've just been cleaning up on my blog a bit, and accidentally published a draft. To my surprise, it had actually been a completed post about my process for creating diffraction art ... and I like it!

Edit - I shared the wrong link :-) See my reblog for the correct one :-)

I had written it in January 2022, and at that time I tried to balance science, tech, and art on my blog. I had already written about my creative process, in the form of Found Poetry :-) So, I figured another introspective long-winded post about my creative process is too much.

Not anymore! :-) My website uses the .art domain now as its main domain, so there cannot be enough art :-)

My creative process for my physics art is still the same. I use different tools / code etc., and - currently - I do not add an additional layer to my artworks by creating collages. In 2022, I layers drawings by Isaac Newton's Opticks to my images - collage-style. Opticks is available as part of Project Gutenberg and in the public domain. However, the images' resolution is a bit too low, so I think the drawings would look pixelated in a print.

But I think I will come back to the collage / "mixed media" approach some day!

[fleursetrebellion]

Today I was reading up on the quantum mechanics of light, and came across a truly despicable word. The phrase was "The Corpuscular Theory of Light". Immediately I was revolted, and started digging into whatever pervert is responsible for making me read that phrase.

Google and Wikipedia immediately told me that this theory goes back to the 1600s, with René Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton. Now, Descartes's contribution to the field of optics came in La Dioptrique (1637 CE). It's all in French, and thus doesn't contain the word "Corpuscle". Interestingly, most of what Descartes described in that treatise had already been discovered like 700 years earlier by the philsopher Abū Ibn Sahl, as described in his work Fī al-'Āla al-Muḥriqa (984 CE), usually translated as "On Burning Mirrors and Lenses". The same discovery would later be named "Snell's Law" after Willebrord Snellius, the white man who did not discover it and who has possibly the silliest name I've ever heard in a scientist.

Back to my search for someone to blame for the word "Corpuscle". My next target was Opticks (1704 CE) by Sir Isaac Newton. And here he did not disappoint. This pervert honest to God wrote the phrase, "unite with the tinging corpuscles of another". In a legitimate scientific treatise. Absolutely disgusting, Mr Newton. Grow up.

But at this point I started to find a new and more complicated narrative. The Corpuscular Theory of Light may have adopted this name first with Newton, but where did he get that word? It turns out, while today we use the word "particle" (because we're not dark-sided perverts preying on the minds of young women centuries from the publications of our works), back in Newton's day "Corpuscularism" was the theory du jour. It was the word for theories of matter which say the world is made up of tiny particles. Y'know, the theory that we widely accept today. (Don't @ me quantum theorists, I know elementary particles are actually waves, I'm trying to stay classical here.) So, can I REALLY blame Newton for the word Corpuscle? I mean, certainly I only found this word through optics, and he did introduce it to the field of optics. But who introduced it to science in the first place?

My search for an outlet to my rage continues.

The theory of Corpuscularism was introduced, as best I can tell, in the 1310 treatise Summa Perfectionis Magisterii. Unfortunately, we don't know who wrote that, because it's attributed to Jābbir ibn Hayyān, the (long dead, at that time) Islamic philosopher of al-Kīmiyā. It's also written in Latin and claims to be a translation of his work, but probably is just a pseudonym for a European scientist of the 1300s. In fact, I'm seeing people say that even in the Islamic golden age, Jābbir ibn Hayyān was just a pseudonym for various Islamic philosophers? So like who knows who wrote any that stuff. But more importantly, the author of Perfectionis Magisterii had the basic decency never to write the word Corpuscle, or even the Latin version of it (Corpusculum). They were a proponent of Corpuscularism, but they didn't call it that. Instead, they described a particle as a "pars", Latin for a "part" or a "piece".

So when DID this word get introduced? My next target is from Mariam-Webster, who states the earliest know use of the word Corpuscle to be Robert Boyle. The same man who formalized "Boyle's Law" in 1662. (And he is I think actually responsible for that, he's not stealing credit from an Arab guy from like 700 years earlier.) His first use of that accursed word is from his first publication, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall (1660). There he wrote the inexcusable phrase, "each Corpuscle endeavours to beat off".

Here I could very easily say I am satisfied and end my quest here with an undying hatred of Robert Boyle. And yet, I am a thorough woman, and the fires of vengeance burn cold. I have one more hunch. Corpuscle may be an English word, but I mentioned before that it comes from the Latin word "Corpusculum". This history could be much older. And yet, fate leads me back only 7 more years, to the philosopher John Bulwer, with his book of race science, Anthrometamorphosis (1653). In this all around miserable work he features lots of racist charicatures which I will spare you, as well as the phrase, "find a passage to their lungs, and cacexicate their pretty Corpusculums". I have no idea what he's even saying in this excerpt. Totally illegible. It almost sounds like he's complaining about women wearing makeup?

And so the picture comes together. Now I can finally come face to face with the kind of person who would invent a word like Corpusculum, and cement it forever in the language of science. Take whatever joy you can in hell today, Mr John Bulwer, because hell will seem like a relief after I find you there some day.

[newtonian-tragedy]

Speaking of Newton and colors, you know those pretty rings of color you see between glass plates and in puddles of motor oil?

These are called Newton Rings, after the observations published in Opticks.

But they should be called Hooke Rings! The article even mentions how the phenomenon was first described in Micrographia.

Yet another case of misappropriation...

[rabbitcruiser]

International Color Day

International Color Day is celebrated every March 21, and we are going to show you how you can celebrate the day. Do you know that it has been 14 years since the idea for International Color Day was proposed by the Portuguese Color Association? International Color Day was created to celebrate color. The date was chosen as March 21, as it is the day of the equinox, which means the lengths of day and night are almost the same as the sun’s rays are straight on the equator. This day is celebrated by setting up exhibitions, science shows, and interactive programs for children, among other activities.

History of International Colour Day

Color has always made humans curious since the beginning of time. Aristotle believed that the colors came from heaven. He believed that the origin of all colors was black and white. However, it was in the 1660s when Issac Newton experimented with light and its different spectrums, that color became a topic of study. After 2000 years, Aristotle’s postulates were replaced by the ones Newton created. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German novelist, playwright, and scientist argued that color was something that was perceived by individuals differently. He is well-known for his quote, “Colors are light’s sufferings and joy”. The distinction between primary and secondary colors was made by Jacob Christoph Le Blon.

In 2008, Maria Joao Durao, the president of the Portuguese Color Association, came up with a proposal to ‘Association Internationale de la Couleur (A.I.C.)’ for recognizing the importance of color and dedicating a day to it. In 2009, the proposal was accepted by the members. The date was chosen to be March 21 as it is the day of the equinox. Competitions, science fairs, art fairs, etc. are held to celebrate. In 2012, an art competition was held in Taipei, Taiwan for deciding on the logo for International Color Day. Hosana Yau of Hong Kong won the competition with his diagram of two circles that made an eye. Half of the circle consisted of rainbow colors and the other half was black. They represented light and darkness.

International Colour Day timeline

350 B.C.

The Theory by Aristotle

Aristotle states that the origins of all colors is black and white and that colors came from heaven.

1704

The Discovery by Newton

In his book “Opticks,” Issac Newton describes the phenomenon of the spectrum of light.

2008

A Day for Color Is Proposed

The Portuguese Color Association proposes a day dedicated to color.

2009

The International Color Day

International Color Day is created for the sole purpose of celebrating color.

International Colour Day FAQs

What is the color of March?

The color of March is Aquamarine. It represents Spring. It is also a symbol of youth and hope.

Is color actually color?

Actually, color does not exist. What exists is light, and how our brains perceive the light reflections.

How many colors exist in the world?

Scientists have determined in the labs that there are 10 million colors in the world.

International Colour Day Activities

Participate in the eventsTake part in the exhibitions and webinars that are held on International Color Day and learn new things. This can be particularly useful for kids.

Wear your National colorWear your national flag as a tee shirt or wrap the flag around you. Share your sense of patriotism even as you celebrate colors.

Share it on social mediaLet everyone know you're celebrating this day. Take pictures of you taking part in International Color Day celebrations and share them on social media.

5 Intriguing Facts About Colors

Blue is a favorite color: The color blue is known to be the favorite of most people in the world.

There’s a fear of color: The fear of color is called Chromophobia.

Women see color better: There are two X chromosomes in women, and that helps them see certain spectrums better.

Newborns see red first: Since the color red has the longest wavelength, it is the first color that a baby sees.

The gray before dark is a phenomenon: The gray we see the second we turn off the lights is called eigengrau.

Why We Love International Colour Day

It gives us a chance to appreciate color: We live in a colorful world. But sometimes, we forget to appreciate all the colors around us. This day is a reminder to be grateful for color.

It’s a day to engage family: This day gives us a chance to participate in events with friends and family. It brings families closer.

It improves our general knowledge: The exhibitions and science fairs held on this day are educational. This can be beneficial for the kids.

Source

[knick-nudiex]

Long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE described them as the "protectors" of all other fish. Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Several ancient writers, such as Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus, attested to the numbing effect of electric shocks delivered by electric catfish and electric rays, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects. Patients with ailments such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them.

Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with cat's fur to attract light objects like feathers. Thales of Miletus made a series of observations on static electricity around 600 BCE, from which he believed that friction rendered amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such as magnetite, which needed no rubbing. Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. According to a controversial theory, the Parthians may have had knowledge of electroplating, based on the 1936 discovery of the Baghdad Battery, which resembles a galvanic cell, though it is uncertain whether the artefact was electrical in nature.

Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English scientist William Gilbert wrote De Magnete, in which he made a careful study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber. He coined the Neo-Latin word electricus ("of amber" or "like amber", from ἤλεκτρο��, elektron, the Greek word for "amber") to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed. This association gave rise to the English words "electric" and "electricity", which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646. Isaac Newton made early investigations into electricity, with an idea of his written down in his book Opticks arguably the beginning of the field theory of the electric force.

Further work was conducted in the 17th and early 18th centuries by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F. du Fay. Later in the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky. A succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature. He also explained the apparently paradoxical behavior of the Leyden jar as a device for storing large amounts of electrical charge in terms of electricity consisting of both positive and negative charges.

In 1775, Hugh Williamson reported a series of experiments to the Royal Society on the shocks delivered by the electric eel;[18] that same year the surgeon and anatomist John Hunter described the structure of the fish's electric organs.[19][20] In 1791, Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectromagnetics, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which neurons passed signals to the muscles.[21][22][14] Alessandro Volta's battery, or voltaic pile, of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the electrostatic machines previously used.[21][22] The recognition of electromagnetism, the unity of electric and magnetic phenomena, is due to Hans Christian Ørsted and André-Marie Ampère in 1819–1820. Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analysed the electrical circuit in 1827.[22] Electricity and magnetism (and light) were definitively linked by James Clerk Maxwell, in particular in his "On Physical Lines of Force" in 1861 and 1862.[23]: 148 

While the early 19th century had seen rapid progress in electrical science, the late 19th century would see the greatest progress in electrical engineering. Through such people as Alexander Graham Bell, Ottó Bláthy, Thomas Edison, Galileo Ferraris, Oliver Heaviside, Ányos Jedlik, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Charles Algernon Parsons, Werner von Siemens, Joseph Swan, Reginald Fessenden, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, electricity turned from a scientific curiosity into an essential tool for modern life.

[nicolae]

Newton’s action at a distance – Different views

Different authors have attempted to clarify the aspects of remote action and God's involvement on the basis of textual investigations, mainly from the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Newton's correspondence with Richard Bentley (1692/93), and Queries that Newton introduced at the end of the Opticks book in the first three editions (between 1704 and 1721). Read the full article

[thepastisalreadywritten]

1. His unhappy childhood helped shape his secretive personality.

Newton was born prematurely on Christmas Day 1642 at his family’s home, Woolsthorpe Manor, near the town of Grantham, England, several months after the death of his father, an illiterate farmer.

When Newton was three, his mother wed a wealthy clergyman, Barnabas Smith, who didn’t want a stepson.

Newton’s mother went to live with her new husband in another village, leaving behind her young son in the care of his grandparents.

The experience of being abandoned by his mother scarred Newton and likely played a role in shaping his solitary, untrusting nature.

As a teen, he made a list of his past sins and among them was:

“Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.”

As an adult, Newton immersed himself in his work, had no hobbies and never married.

He even remained silent about some of his scientific and mathematical discoveries for years (if he published them at all).

2. Newton’s mother wanted him to be a farmer.

At age 12, Newton was enrolled in a school in Grantham, where he boarded at the home of the local apothecary because the daily walk from Woolsthorpe Manor was too long.

Initially, he wasn’t a strong student.

However, as the story goes, following a confrontation with a school bully, Newton started applying himself in an effort to beat the other boy and transformed into a top student.

However, at age 15 or 16, he was ordered to quit school by his mother (then widowed for a second time) and return to Woolsthorpe Manor to become a farmer.

The teen was uninterested in the job and fared poorly at it.

Eventually, Newton’s mother was persuaded by her son’s former headmaster in Grantham (where, incidentally, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was born in 1925) to allow him to return to school.

After finishing his coursework there, Newton left for Trinity College, University of Cambridge in 1661, putting farming behind him for good.

3. The Black Death inadvertently set the stage for one of his most famous insights.

In 1665, following an outbreak of the bubonic plague in England, Cambridge University closed its doors, forcing Newton to return home to Woolsthorpe Manor.

While sitting in the garden there one day, he saw an apple fall from a tree, providing him with the inspiration to eventually formulate his Law of Universal Gravitation.

Newton later relayed the apple story to William Stukeley, who included it in a book, “Memoir of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life,” published in 1752.

In 2010, a NASA astronaut carried a piece of the ancient apple tree aboard the space shuttle Atlantis for a mission to the International Space Station.

The Royal Society, a scientific organization once headed by Newton, loaned the piece of the tree for the voyage, as part of a celebration of the 350th anniversary of the group’s founding.

Today, the original apple tree continues to grow at Woolsthorpe Manor.

4. As a professor at Cambridge, his lectures were poorly attended.

In 1669, Newton, then 26, was appointed the Lucasian professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, one of the world’s oldest universities, whose origins date to 1209.

(Newton was the second person to hold the Lucasian professorship. The 17th person, from 1979 to 2009, was physicist and “A Brief History of Time” author Stephen Hawking.)

Although he remained at Cambridge for nearly 30 years, Newton showed little interest in teaching or in his students, and his lectures were sparsely attended.

Frequently, no one showed up at all.

Newton’s attention was centered on his own research.

5. Newton ran the Royal Mint and had forgers executed.

In 1696, Newton was named to the job of Warden of the Royal Mint, which was responsible for producing England’s currency.

He left Cambridge, his long-time home, and moved to his nation’s capital city, where the mint was located in the Tower of London.

Three years later, Newton was promoted to the more lucrative position of Master of the Mint, a post he held until his death in 1727.

During his tenure at the mint, Newton supervised a major initiative to take all of the country’s old coins out of circulation and replace them with more reliable currency.

He also was focused on investigating counterfeiters, and as a result, became acquainted with the city’s seedy underbelly as he personally tracked down and interviewed suspected criminals, receiving death threats along the way.

A number of forgers he went after were sent to the gallows.

6. He had a serious interest in alchemy.

In addition to the scientific endeavors for which he’s best known, Newton spent much of his adult life pursuing another interest, Alchemy, whose goals included finding the philosopher’s stone, a substance that allegedly could turn ordinary metals like lead and iron into gold.

He was secretive about his alchemical experiments and recorded some of his research in code.

Among his other research projects, Newton analyzed the Bible in an attempt to find secret messages about how the universe works.

7. Newton served in Parliament—quietly.

From 1689 to 1690, Newton was a member of Parliament, representing Cambridge University.

During this time, the legislative body enacted the Bill of Rights, which limited the power of the monarchy and laid out the rights of Parliament along with certain individual rights.

Newton’s contributions to Parliament apparently were limited, though, he reportedly spoke only once, when he asked an usher to close a window because it was chilly.

Nevertheless, while in London, Newton became acquainted with a number of influential people, from King William III to the philosopher John Locke.

Newton served a second brief term in Parliament, from 1701 to 1702, and again seemed to have contributed little.

8. He had fierce rivalries.

When it came to his intellectual rivals, Newton could be jealous and vindictive.

Among those with whom he feuded was German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz.

The two men had a bitter battle over who invented calculus.

Newton developed a version of calculus in the 1660s but didn’t publish his work at the time.

In the 1670s, Leibniz formulated his own version of calculus, publishing his work a decade later.

Newton later charged that the German scholar had plagiarized his unpublished writings after documents summarizing it circulated through the Royal Society.

Leibniz contended he’d reached his results independently and implied that Newton had stolen from his published work.

In an effort to defend himself, Leibniz eventually appealed to the Royal Society.

In 1712, Newton, who’d served as the organization’s president since 1703, agreed that an impartial committee would be assembled to look into the issue.

Instead, he packed the committee with his supporters and even penned the group’s report, which publicly credited him with discovering calculus.

Today, however, Leibniz’s system of calculus is the one commonly used.

9. Newton was knighted.

In 1705, Newton was knighted by Queen Anne.

By that time, he’d become wealthy after inheriting his mother’s property following her death in 1679 and also had published two major works, 1687’s “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (commonly called the “Principia”) and 1704’s “Opticks.”

After the celebrated scientist died at age 84 on 20 March 1727, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, the resting place of English monarchs, as well as such notable non-royals as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and explorer David Livingstone.