Sir Isaac Newton

1
Sir Isaac Newton

• Philosophy 22N
• Winter, 2007
• G. J. Mattey

2
Vital Statistics

• Born, 1643
• Died, 1727, London
• Single
• Lucasian Professor at Cambridge
• Master of the Royal Mint
• President of the Royal Society

3
Important Events

• 1653-61, attended Free Grammar School at Grantham
• 1665, Bachelors degree from Trinity College,
  Cambridge
• 1665-67, due to plague in Cambridge returned
  home, where he began intensive study of
  mathematics, physics, optics and astronomy
• 1667, awarded fellowship at Cambridge

4
Important Events (cont.)

• 1668, received Masters degree and a major
  fellowship at Cambridge
• 1669, appointed Lucasian Professor at Cambridge
• 1672, elected fellow of the Royal Society
• 1675, dispute with Robert Hooke over precedence
  of Newtons work on optics
• 1678, suffered nervous breakdown

5
Important Events (cont.)

• 1684, persuaded by Edmund Halley to write a book
  on physics
• 1687, published Mathematical Principles of
  Natural Philosophy
• 1689, elected as university member to Parliament
• 1693, suffered a second nervous breakdown
• 1696, moved to London, became Warden of the Royal
  Mint

6
Important Events (cont.)

• 1699, became Master of the Royal Mint
• 1703, elected president of the Royal Society
• 1704, published Opticks, upon death of Hooke
• 1705, knighted by Queen Anne
• 1708, entered into dispute with Leibniz over
  precedence of invention of the calculus
• 1727, died, and buried in Westminster Abbey