Sir Isaac Newton(English) Sir Isaac Newton, December 25, 1642 - March 20, 1727 according to the Julian calendar, which was in force in England until 1752; or January 4, 1643 - March 31, 1727 according to the Gregorian calendar) - English physicist, mathematician and astronomer, one of the founders of classical physics. The author of the fundamental work “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”, in which he outlined law universal gravity and the three laws of mechanics, which became the basis of classical mechanics. He developed differential and integral calculus, color theory and many other mathematical and physical theories.
Biography
early years
Woolsthorpe. The house where Newton was born.
Isaac Newton, the son of a small but prosperous farmer, was born in the village of Woolsthorpe. Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire), in the year of Galileo's death and on the eve of the Civil War. Newton's father did not live to see his son born. The boy was born prematurely and was sickly, so they did not dare to baptize him for a long time. Yet he survived, was baptized (January 1), and named Isaac in honor of his late father. Newton considered the fact of being born on Christmas a special sign of fate. Despite poor health in infancy, he lived to be 84 years old.
Newton sincerely believed that his family went back to the Scottish nobles of the 15th century, but historians discovered that in 1524 his ancestors were poor peasants. By the end of the 16th century, the family became rich and became yeomen (landowners).
In January 1646, Newton's mother, Anne Ayscough Hannah Ayscough) got married again; She had three children from 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 Ayscough. As a child, Newton, according to contemporaries, was silent, withdrawn and isolated, loved to read and make technical toys: a sundial and water clock, a mill, etc. All his life he felt lonely.
His stepfather died in 1653, part of his inheritance went to Newton’s mother and was immediately registered by her in Isaac’s name. The mother returned home, but focused most of her attention on the three youngest children and the extensive household; Isaac was still left to his own devices.
In 1655, 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 part of the management of the household to her 16-year-old son. The attempt was unsuccessful - Isaac preferred reading books and constructing various mechanisms to all other activities. At this time, Newton's school teacher Stokes approached Anna and began to persuade her to continue the education of her unusually gifted son; This request was joined by Uncle William and Isaac's Grantham acquaintance (relative of the pharmacist Clark) Humphrey Babington, a member of the Cambridge Trinity College. With their combined efforts, they eventually achieved their goal. In 1661, Newton successfully completed school and went to continue his education at Cambridge University.
Trinity College (1661-1664)
Trinity College Clock Tower
In June 1661, 19-year-old Newton arrived in Cambridge. According to the charter, he was given a knowledge test Latin language, after which it was reported that he had been accepted into Trinity College (Holy Trinity College) of the University of Cambridge. With this educational institution More than 30 years of Newton's life are connected.
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 payments due to the university, and dismissed a significant part of the teaching staff appointed during the years of the revolution. In total, 400 people lived at 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 classified as a "sizer" student. sizar), from whom tuition fees were not charged (probably on Babington's recommendation). Very little documentary evidence and memories of this period of his life have survived. During these years, Newton's character was finally formed - scientific meticulousness, the desire to get to the bottom of things, intolerance to deception, slander and oppression, indifference to public fame. He still had no friends.
In April 1664, Newton, having passed the exams, moved to a higher student category of “scolers” ( scholars), which made him eligible for a scholarship to continue his studies at college.
Despite Galileo's discoveries, 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 atomic theory. Judging by these notebooks, he continued to make (mainly scientific instruments), and was enthusiastically engaged in optics, astronomy, mathematics, phonetics, and music theory. According to the memoirs of his roommate, Newton devoted himself wholeheartedly to his studies, 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 rich in other events. Newton experienced a creative surge, began independent scientific activity and compiled a large-scale list (of 45 points) of unsolved problems in nature and human life ( Questionnaire, lat. Questions quaedam philosophicae ). In the future, similar lists appear more than once in his workbooks. In March of the same year, lectures began at the college's newly founded (1663) mathematics department by a new teacher, 34-year-old Isaac Barrow, a major mathematician, Newton's future friend and teacher. Newton's interest in mathematics increased sharply. He made the first significant mathematical discovery: 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. Finally, at the very end of the year, Newton became a bachelor.
The scientific support and inspiration for Newton's work were the physicists: Galileo, Descartes and Kepler. Newton completed their work by combining universal system peace. Other mathematicians and physicists had a lesser but significant influence: 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 truth... We must erect gold monuments to Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and write on each one: “Plato is a friend, Aristotle is a friend, but the main friend is truth.”
"The Plague Years" (1665-1667)
On Christmas Eve 1664, red crosses began to appear on London houses - the first marks of the Great Plague Epidemic. By summer, the deadly epidemic had expanded significantly. On 8 August 1665, classes at Trinity College were suspended and the staff disbanded until the end of the epidemic. Newton went home to Woolsthorpe, taking with him the main books, notebooks and instruments.
These were disastrous years for England - a devastating plague (a fifth of the population died in London alone), a devastating war with Holland, and the Great Fire of London. But Newton made a significant part of his scientific discoveries in the solitude of the “plague years.” From the surviving notes it is clear that the 23-year-old Newton was already fluent in the basic methods of differential and integral calculus, including the series expansion of functions and what was later called Newton-Leibniz formula. After conducting a series of ingenious optical experiments, he proved that white is a mixture of colors. Newton later recalled these years:
At the beginning of 1665 I found the method of approximate series and the rule for transforming any power of a binomial into such a series... in November I received the direct method of fluxions [differential calculus]; in January next year I received color theory, and in May I started the inverse fluxion method [integral calculus]... At this time I was worried the best time of his youth and became more interested in mathematics and philosophy than at any other time later.
But his most significant discovery during these years was 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 beginning of my correspondence with Oldenburg), I expressed the inverse quadratic proportionality of the gravitational force of the planets to the Sun depending on the distance and calculated the correct ratio of the earth's gravity and conatus recedendi [striving] of the Moon towards the center of the Earth, although not entirely accurately.
The revered descendant of "Newton's Apple Tree". Cambridge, Botanic Garden.
The inaccuracy mentioned by Newton is caused by the fact that Newton took the dimensions of the Earth and the magnitude of the acceleration of gravity from Galileo’s Mechanics, where they are given with a significant error. Later, Newton received more accurate data from Picard and was finally convinced of the truth of his theory.
There is a well-known legend that Newton discovered the law of gravity by observing an apple falling from a tree branch. The “Newton’s apple” was first briefly mentioned by Newton’s biographer William Stukeley, and this legend became popular thanks to Voltaire. Another biographer, Henry Pemberton, gives Newton's reasoning (without mentioning the apple) in more detail: "by comparing the periods of the several planets and their distances from the sun, he found that ... this force must decrease in quadratic proportion as the distance increases." In other words, Newton discovered that from Kepler's third law, which connects the orbital periods of planets with the distance to the Sun, follows precisely the “inverse square formula” for the law of gravity (in the approximation of circular orbits). Newton wrote out the final formulation of the law of gravitation, which was included in textbooks, 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.” He did not publish his first scientific work (October 1666), which outlined the fundamentals of analysis; it was found only 300 years later.
Beginning of scientific fame (1667-1684)
Newton in his youth
In March-June 1666, Newton visited Cambridge. The brave souls who remained in college, as it turned out, did not suffer either from the plague or even from the then popular anti-plague drugs (including ash bark, strong vinegar, alcoholic drinks and a strict diet). However, in the summer a new wave of plague forced him to go home again. Finally, in early 1667, the epidemic ended and Newton returned to Cambridge in April. On 1 October he was elected a fellow of Trinity College, and in 1668 he became a master. He was given a spacious separate room to live in, a good salary was assigned, and a group of students was assigned to him, with whom he conscientiously studied standard academic subjects for several hours a week. However, neither then nor later did Newton become famous as a teacher; his lectures were poorly attended.
Having strengthened his position, Newton traveled to London, where shortly before, in 1660, the Royal Society of London was created - an authoritative organization of prominent scientific figures, one of the first Academies of Sciences. The publication of the Royal Society was the journal Philosophical Transactions (lat. Philosophical Transactions).
In 1669, mathematical works using expansions in infinite series began to appear in Europe. Although the depth of these discoveries could not be compared 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 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 fame in England and abroad.
In the same year, Barrow accepted the king's invitation to become a court chaplain and left teaching. On October 29, 1669, Newton was elected as his successor, professor of mathematics and optics at Trinity College. Barrow left Newton an extensive alchemical laboratory; During this period, Newton became seriously interested in alchemy and conducted a lot of chemical experiments.
Newton reflector
At the same time, he continued experiments in optics and color theory. Newton investigated spherical and chromatic aberration. To reduce them to a minimum, he built a mixed reflecting telescope: a lens and a concave spherical mirror, which he made and polished himself. The project for such a telescope was first proposed by James Gregory (1663), but this plan was never realized. Newton's first design (1668) was unsuccessful, but the next one, with a more carefully polished mirror, despite small sizes, gave a 40x magnification of excellent quality.
Rumors about the new instrument quickly reached London, and Newton was invited to show his invention to the scientific community. At the end of 1671 - beginning of 1672, a demonstration of the reflector took place before the king, and then at the Royal Society. The device received universal rave reviews. Newton became famous and in January 1672 was elected a member of the Royal Society. Later, improved reflectors became the main tools of astronomers, with their help the planet Uranus, other galaxies, and red shift were discovered.
At first, Newton valued his communication with colleagues from the Royal Society, which included, in addition to Barrow, James Gregory, John Wallis, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and other famous figures of English science. However, tedious conflicts soon began, which Newton really did not like. In particular, a noisy controversy erupted over the nature of light. As early as February 1672, Newton published in the Philosophical Transactions detailed description his classical experiments with prisms and his theory of color. Hooke, who had already published his own theory, stated that he was not convinced by Newton's results; he was supported by Huygens on the grounds that Newton's theory "contradicts generally accepted views." Newton responded to their criticism only six months later, but by this time the number of critics had increased significantly. Particularly active was a certain Linus from Liege, who attacked the Society with letters containing completely absurd objections to Newton's results.
An avalanche of incompetent attacks left Newton irritated and depressed. He regretted that he had trustingly disclosed his discoveries to his fellow scientists. Newton asked the secretary of the Oldenburg Society not to send him any more critical letters and made a vow for the future: not to get involved in scientific disputes. In his letters, he complains that he is faced with a choice: either not to publish his discoveries, or to spend all his time and energy repelling unfriendly amateurish criticism. In the end he chose the first option and announced his resignation from the Royal Society (8 March 1673). It was not without difficulty that Oldenburg persuaded him to stay. However, scientific contacts with the Society are now reduced to a minimum.
In 1673 there were two important events. First: by royal decree, Newton's old friend and patron, Isaac Barrow, returned to Trinity, now as a leader (“master”). Second: Leibniz, known at that time as a philosopher and inventor, became interested in Newton’s mathematical discoveries. Having received Newton's 1669 work on infinite series and studied it deeply, he then independently began to develop his own version of the analysis. In 1676, Newton and Leibniz exchanged letters in which Newton explained a number of his methods, answered Leibniz's questions, and hinted at the existence of even more common methods, not yet published (meaning general differential and integral calculus). The Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, persistently 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 respond to Leibniz's next letter. The first brief publication on Newton's 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 1678, the secretary of the Royal Society, Oldenburg, who favored Newton, died, and Hooke, who was hostile to Newton, became the new secretary. In 1679, mother Anna became seriously ill; Newton came to her and took an active part in caring for the patient, but her mother’s condition quickly deteriorated 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 Principia
The history of the creation of this work, along with Euclid's Elements, one of the most famous in the history of science, began in 1682, when the passage of Halley's comet caused a rise 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 refused. He was generally reluctant to be distracted from his research for the painstaking task of publishing scientific works.
In August 1684, Halley came to Cambridge and told Newton that he, Wren and Hooke had discussed how to derive the ellipticity of the orbits of planets 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 he 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. December 10, 1684 in the minutes Royal Society there was a historical record:
Mr. Halley... recently saw Mr. Newton in Cambridge, and he showed him an interesting treatise "De motu" [On Motion]. According to the wishes of Mr. Halley, Newton promised to send the said treatise to the Society.
Work on the book took place in 1684 -1686. According to the recollections of Humphrey Newton, a relative of the scientist and his assistant during these years, at first Newton wrote “Principia” in between alchemical experiments, to which he paid the main attention, then he gradually became carried away and enthusiastically devoted himself to working on the main book of his life.
The publication was supposed to be carried out with funds from the Royal Society, but at the beginning of 1686 the Society published a treatise on the history of fish that was not in demand, and thereby depleted its budget. Then Halley announced that he would bear the costs of publication himself. The Society gratefully accepted this generous offer and, as partial compensation, provided Halley with 50 free copies of a treatise on the history of fish.
Newton's work - perhaps by analogy with Descartes' "Principles of Philosophy" (1644) - was called "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 "Mathematical Principles" was presented to the Royal Society. All three volumes, after some editing by the author, were published in 1687. The circulation (about 300 copies) was sold out in 4 years - very quickly for that time.
A page from Newton's Principia (3rd ed., 1726)
Both the physical and mathematical level of Newton's work are completely incomparable with the work of his predecessors. It lacks Aristotelian or Cartesian metaphysics, with its vague reasoning and vaguely formulated, often far-fetched “first causes.” 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 movement of the planets and their satellites. Newton's method is to create a model of a phenomenon, “without inventing hypotheses,” and then, if there is enough data, to search for its causes. This approach, which began with Galileo, meant the end of 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 gravity of all three Kepler laws is given. Note that hyperbolic and parabolic orbits of celestial bodies unknown to Kepler were also described. Truth heliocentric system Newton does not directly discuss Copernicus, but implies; it even estimates the deviation of the Sun from the solar system's center of mass. In other words, the Sun in Newton’s system, unlike Keplerian’s, is not at rest, but obeys the general laws of motion. The general system also included comets, the type of orbits of which caused great controversy at that time.
The weak point of Newton's theory of gravity, according to many scientists of that time, was the lack of 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 reconcile with Newtonian theory. The physical basis of gravity became clear only more than two centuries later, with the advent of General theory relativity.
Newton built the mathematical apparatus and general structure of the book as close as possible to the then standard of scientific rigor - Euclid's Elements. He deliberately did not use mathematical analysis almost anywhere - the use of new, unusual methods would have jeopardized the credibility of the results presented. This caution, however, devalued Newton's method of presentation for subsequent generations of readers. Newton's book was the first work on new physics and at the same time one of the last serious works using old methods mathematical research. All of Newton's followers already used the powerful methods of mathematical analysis he created. The largest direct successors of Newton's work were D'Alembert, Euler, Laplace, Clairaut and Lagrange.
1687-1703
The year 1687 was marked not only by the publication of the great book, but also by Newton’s conflict with King James II. In February, the king, consistently pursuing his line for the restoration of Catholicism in England, ordered the University of Cambridge to give a master's degree to the Catholic monk Alban Francis. The university leadership hesitated, not wanting to irritate the king; Soon a delegation of scientists, including Newton, was summoned for reprisals before Judge Jeffreys, known for his rudeness and cruelty. George Jeffreys). Newton opposed any compromise that would impair university autonomy and persuaded the delegation to take a principled stand. As a result, the vice-chancellor of the university was removed from office, but the king’s wish was never fulfilled. In one of his letters these years, Newton outlined his political principles:
Every honest person, according to the laws of God and man, is obliged to obey the lawful orders of the king. But if His Majesty is advised to demand something that cannot be done by law, then no one should suffer if such a demand is neglected.
In 1689, after the overthrow of King James II, Newton was first elected to Parliament from Cambridge University and sat there for little more than 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 avoid a draft. In fact, Newton carried out 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, which led to the loss of important results, and age-related ailments). Those close to him feared for his sanity; the few surviving letters of his from this period do indicate 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, a lover of science and alchemy, Charles Montagu (1661 -1715). Newton probably made a strong 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 the Exchequer of England), Montagu proposed to the King that Newton be appointed Warden of the Mint. The king gave his consent, and in 1696 Newton took this position, left Cambridge and moved to London. From 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, and redid the accounting over the past 30 years. At the same time, Newton energetically and skillfully contributed to Montagu's monetary reform, restoring confidence in the English monetary system, which had been thoroughly neglected by his predecessors. In England during these years, almost exclusively inferior coins were in circulation, and in considerable quantities counterfeit coins were in circulation. Trimming the edges of silver coins became widespread. Now the coin began to be produced at special machines and there was an inscription along the rim, so that the criminal grinding of metal became impossible. Over the course of 2 years, the old, inferior silver coin was completely withdrawn from circulation and re-minted, the production of new coins increased to keep up with the need for them, and their quality improved. Inflation in the country has dropped sharply.
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 was personally involved in dozens of investigations, and more than 100 counterfeiters were tracked down and convicted; in the absence of aggravating circumstances, they were most often sent to the North American colonies, but several leaders were executed. The number of counterfeit coins in England has decreased significantly. Montagu, in his memoirs, highly appreciated the extraordinary administrative abilities shown by Newton and ensured the success of the reform.
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 the Principia to Tsar Peter in Russia.
Newton’s scientific triumph was symbolized by two events in 1699: the teaching of Newton’s world system began at Cambridge (from 1704 at Oxford), and Paris Academy of Sciences, the stronghold of his Carthusian opponents, elected him as its foreign member. All this time Newton was still listed as 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 the meetings of the Society only twice during the 5 years of his presidency. In November, Newton was elected as his successor and ruled the Society for the rest of his life - more than twenty years. Unlike his predecessors, he was personally present at 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, one can highlight Denis Papin, Abraham de Moivre, Roger Coates, Brooke Taylor), held and discussed interesting experiments, the quality of journal articles has improved significantly, and financial problems have been alleviated. The society acquired paid secretaries and its own residence (on Fleet Street); Newton paid the moving expenses out of 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 it was published (first on English language) monograph “Optics”, which determined the development of this science until early XIX century. It contained an appendix “On the quadrature of curves” - the first and fairly complete presentation of Newton’s version of mathematical analysis. In fact, this is Newton's last work on 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 position of superintendent, did not require much activity from him. Twice a week he went to the Mint, once a week to a meeting of the Royal Society. Newton never traveled outside of England.
In 1705, Queen Anne knighted Newton. From now on he Sir Isaac Newton. For the first time in English history the title of knight was awarded for scientific merits; the next time this happened was more than a century later (1819, in relation 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 a not very reliable pedigree.
In 1707, a collection of Newton's mathematical works, Universal Arithmetic, was published. 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 (see below), in which even the reigning persons were involved. This quarrel between two geniuses cost science dearly - the English mathematical school soon withered for a whole century, and the European one ignored many of Newton’s outstanding ideas, rediscovering them
Isaac Newton is an English scientist, historian, physicist, mathematician and alchemist. He was born into a farming family in Woolsthorpe. Newton's father died before his birth. Soon after the death of her beloved husband, the mother married a second time to a priest who lived in a neighboring town and moved in with him. Isaac Newton, short biography of whom is written below, and his grandmother remained in Woolsthorpe. Some researchers explain the scientist’s bilious and unsociable character with this emotional shock.
At the age of twelve, Isaac Newton entered Grantham School, and in 1661 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. To earn money, the young scientist performed the duties of servants. The mathematics teacher at the college was I. Barrow.
During the plague epidemic in 1965-1967, Isaac Newton was in his home village. These years were the most productive in his scientific activity. It was here that he developed the ideas that later led Newton to the creation of a reflecting telescope (Isaac Newton made it on his own in 1968) and to the discovery of the law of universal gravitation. Also here he conducted experiments involving the decomposition of light.
In 1668, the scientist was awarded the title, and a year later Barrow transferred his chair (physics and mathematics) to him. Isaac Newton, whose biography is of interest to many researchers, occupied it until 1701.
In 1671, Isaac Newton invents his second mirror telescope. It was bigger and better than the previous one. The demonstration of this telescope made a very strong impression on contemporaries. Soon after this, Isaac Newton was elected a member of the Royal Society. At the same time, he presented to the scientific community his research on a new theory of colors and light, which caused sharp disagreements with
Isaac Newton also developed the basis. This became known from the correspondence of European scientists, although the scientist himself did not publish a single note on this matter. In 1704, the first publication on the fundamentals of analysis was published, and complete guide published in 1736, posthumously.
In 1965, Isaac Newton became superintendent of the Mint. This was facilitated by the fact that the scientist was once interested in alchemy. Newton supervised the reminting of all English coins. It was he who put in order the coinage of England, which until then had been in disarray. For this, in 1966, the scientist received the lifelong title of director of the English court, which was highly paid at that time. In the same year, Isaac Newton became a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In 1705 great for grandiose scientific works raised him to the rank of knight.
IN last years In his life, Newton devoted a lot of time to theology, as well as biblical and ancient history. The great scientist was buried in the national English pantheon -
/brief historical perspective/
The greatness of a true scientist is not in the titles and awards with which he is marked or awarded by the world community, and not even in the recognition of his services to Humanity, but in the discoveries and theories that he left to the World. The unique discoveries made during his bright Life by the famous scientist Isaac Newton are difficult to overestimate or underestimate.
Theories and discoveries
Isaac Newton formulated the basic laws of classical mechanics, was opened law of universal gravitation, theory developed movements of celestial bodies, created fundamentals of celestial mechanics.
Isaac Newton(independently of Gottfried Leibniz) created theory of differential and integral calculus, opened light dispersion, chromatic aberration, studied interference and diffraction, developed corpuscular theory of light, gave a hypothesis that combined corpuscular And wave representations, built mirror telescope.
Space and time Newton considered absolute.
Historical formulations of Newton's laws of mechanics
Newton's first law
Every body continues to be maintained in a state of rest or uniform and rectilinear motion until and unless it is forced by applied forces to change this state.
Newton's second law
In an inertial reference frame, the acceleration that a material point receives is directly proportional to the resultant of all forces applied to it and inversely proportional to its mass.
The change in momentum is proportional to the applied driving force and occurs in the direction of the straight line along which this force acts.
Newton's third law
An action always has an equal and opposite reaction, otherwise the interactions of two bodies on each other are equal and directed in opposite directions.
Some of Newton's contemporaries considered him alchemist. He was the director of the Mint, established the coin business in England, and headed the society Prior-Zion, studied the chronology of ancient kingdoms. He devoted several theological works (mostly unpublished) to the interpretation of biblical prophecies.
Newton's works
– “A New Theory of Light and Colors”, 1672 (communication to the Royal Society)
– “Motion of bodies in orbit” (lat. De Motu Corporum in Gyrum), 1684
– “Mathematical principles of natural philosophy” (lat. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica), 1687
- “Optics or a treatise on the reflections, refractions, bendings and colors of light” (eng. Opticks or a treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections and colors of light), 1704
– “On the quadrature of curves” (lat. Tractatus de quadratura curvarum), supplement to "Optics"
– “Enumeration of lines of the third order” (lat. Enumeratio linearum tertii ordinis), supplement to "Optics"
– “Universal arithmetic” (lat. Arithmetica Universalis), 1707
– “Analysis using equations with an infinite number of terms” (lat. De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas), 1711
– “Method of Differences”, 1711
According to scientists around the world, Newton's work was significantly ahead of the general scientific level of his time and was poorly understood by his contemporaries. However, Newton himself said about himself: “ I don’t know how the world perceives me, but to myself I seem to be only a boy playing on the seashore, who amuses himself by occasionally finding a pebble more colorful than the others, or a beautiful shell, while the great ocean of truth spreads out before me. unexplored by me. »
But according to the conviction of no less a great scientist, A. Einstein “ Newton was the first to try to formulate elementary laws that determine the time course of a wide class of processes in nature with a high degree of completeness and accuracy." and “... with his works had a deep and strong influence on the entire worldview as a whole. »
Newton's grave bears the following inscription:
“Here lies Sir Isaac Newton, the nobleman who, with an almost divine mind, was the first to prove with the torch of mathematics the motion of the planets, the paths of comets and the tides of the oceans. He investigated the differences in light rays and the appearing various properties flowers, which no one had previously suspected. A diligent, wise and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity and Holy Scripture, he affirmed with his philosophy the greatness of Almighty God, and with his disposition he expressed evangelical simplicity. Let mortals rejoice that such an adornment of the human race existed. »
Prepared Lazarus Model.
Isaac Newton's work was complex - he worked simultaneously in several fields of knowledge. An important step Newton's activities became his mathematical ones, which made it possible to improve the calculation system within the framework of others. Newton's important discovery was the fundamental theorem of analysis. It made it possible to prove that differential calculus is the inverse of integral calculus and vice versa. Newton's discovery of the possibility of binomial expansion of numbers also played an important role in the development of algebra. Newton’s method of extracting roots from equations also played an important practical role, which greatly simplified such calculations.
Newtonian mechanics
Newton made the most significant discoveries. In fact, he created such a branch of physics as mechanics. He formed 3 axioms of mechanics, called Newton's laws. The first law, otherwise called the law, states that any body will be in a state of rest or motion until any force is applied to it. Newton's second law illuminates the problem of differential motion and says that the acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the resultant forces applied to the body and inversely proportional to the mass of the body. The third law describes the interaction of bodies with each other. Newton formulated it as the fact that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Newton's laws became the basis of classical mechanics.
But Newton's most famous discovery was the law of universal gravitation. He was also able to prove that gravitational forces extend not only to terrestrial forces, but also to celestial bodies. These laws were described in 1687 after Newton's publication on the use of mathematical methods in.
Newton's law of gravitation became the first of numerous theories of gravity that subsequently emerged.
Optics
Newton devoted a lot of time to such a branch of physics as optics. He is as important as the spectral decomposition of colors - with the help of a lens he learned to refract white light into other colors. Thanks to Newton, knowledge in optics was systematized. He created the most important device - a reflecting telescope, which improved the quality of observations.
It should be noted that after Newton's discoveries, optics began to develop very quickly. He was able to generalize such discoveries of his predecessors as diffraction, double refraction of a beam and the speed of light.
When studying Newton's laws at school, some students memorize only their theoretical data and formulas, but are absolutely not interested in how great the man was who made such important discoveries. Newton made a huge contribution to the development of man's ideas about the world around him in the 18th century.
Isaac Newton is a famous English mathematician and physicist. The great scientist was born on January 4, 1643 according to the Gregorian calendar (December 25, 1642 according to the Julian calendar) in small Woolsthorpe in England.
Isaac Newton is famous for creating the theoretical foundations of astronomy and mechanics. His achievements include the invention of the reflecting telescope, the discovery of the law of universal gravitation, and the writing of extremely important research work, as well as the development of integral and differential calculus. Is it true, last work was done by Newton together with another famous scientist Leibniz. Isaac Newton is considered the founder of "classical physics".
The great scientist came from a farming family. Little Isaac studied first at Grantham School, then at Trinity College, Cambridge University. After graduation, the future scientist was awarded a bachelor's degree.
The most productive years on the path to great discoveries were the years of seclusion. They fell in the years 1665-1667, when the plague was raging. At this time, Newton was forced to live in Woolsthorpe. It was during this period that the most important research was done. For example, the discovery of the law of universal gravitation.
Isaac Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey. The date of death of the scientist is determined as March 31, 1727 according to the Gregorian calendar (March 20, 1727 - Julian style).
Dr. Richard W. Hamming, in his lecture “You and Your Discoveries,” explained how to make a great discovery. He emphasized that any average person is capable of this. The main thing is to correctly apply the efforts of your mind. Hamming summarized his experience at Bell Labs, where he worked side by side with the great scientists of our time.
Instructions
First you need to throw away all conventions and ask yourself one honest question: “Why don’t I do something significant in my life?” Any person is capable of this. The main thing is intention.
You need to stop believing in luck and believe that a great discovery is the result of hard work. “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” If your mind is prepared, sooner or later you will achieve results and catch your luck. Luck is the result of your efforts.
It takes courage to make a great discovery. The courage to put forward ideas and the courage to defend them. The courage to articulate your thoughts and the courage to question and wonder.
You can only be bold in expressing your thoughts if you believe that you will be able to make a great discovery.
You need to work on small tasks. Small, but important. The tasks must be within your capabilities. As soon as you try to decide right away global problem, you fail. Remember, the mind must be prepared.
A great discovery is often made in working conditions that are generally considered difficult, imperfect, and uncomfortable. The creative process needs boundaries. When you get into difficult conditions work, it is important not to give up. It is important to think how to overcome them. Look for solutions to how a disadvantage can be turned into an advantage.
An Englishman, whom many consider to be the greatest scientist of all times. Born into a family of small landed nobles in the vicinity of Woolsthorpe (Lincolnshire, England). I did not find my father alive (he died three months before the birth of his son). Having remarried, her mother left two-year-old Isaac in the care of his grandmother. Many researchers of his biography attribute the peculiar eccentric behavior of an already adult scientist to the fact that until the age of nine, when his stepfather died, the boy was completely deprived of parental care.
For some time young Isaac studied the wisdom Agriculture at a vocational school. As often happens with later great people, there are still a lot of legends about his eccentricities in that early period of his life. So, in particular, they say that one day he was sent to pasture to guard the cattle, which had safely scattered in an unknown direction, while the boy was sitting under a tree and enthusiastically reading a book that interested him. Whether this is true or not, the teenager’s thirst for knowledge was soon noticed - and he was sent back to the Grantham gymnasium, after which the young man successfully entered Trinity College, Cambridge University.
Newton quickly mastered the curriculum and moved on to study the works of the leading scientists of the time, in particular the followers of the French philosopher René Descartes (René Descartes, 1596-1650), who adhered to a mechanistic view of the Universe. In the spring of 1665, he received a bachelor's degree - and then the most incredible events in the history of science happened. In the same year, the last epidemic of bubonic plague broke out in England, funeral bells were increasingly tolled, and the University of Cambridge was closed. Newton returned to Woolsthorpe for almost two years, taking with him only a few books and his remarkable intellect to boot.
When Cambridge University reopened two years later, Newton had already (1) developed differential calculus, a separate branch of mathematics, (2) laid out the foundations of modern color theory, (3) derived the law of universal gravitation, and (4) solved several mathematical problems that had preceded him. no one could solve it. As Newton himself said, “I was in the prime of my inventive powers in those days, and Mathematics and Philosophy have never since captivated me as much as they did then.” (I often ask my students, telling them once again about Newton’s achievements: “What You did you manage to do it during the summer holidays?”)
Soon after returning to Cambridge, Newton was elected to the academic council of Trinity College, and his statue still adorns the university church. He gave a course of lectures on color theory, in which he showed that color differences are explained by the basic characteristics of the light wave (or, as they now say, wavelength) and that light has a corpuscular nature. He also designed a reflecting telescope, and this invention brought him to the attention of the Royal Society. Long-term studies of light and colors were published in 1704 in his fundamental work “Optics” ( Optics).
Newton's advocacy of the “wrong” theory of light (wave concepts dominated at that time) led to a conflict with Robert Hooke ( cm. Hooke's Law), head of the Royal Society. In response, Newton proposed a hypothesis that combined corpuscular and wave concepts of light. Hooke accused Newton of plagiarism and made claims to priority in this discovery. The conflict continued until Hooke's death in 1702 and made such a depressing impression on Newton that he withdrew from intellectual life for six years. However, some psychologists of that time attributed this to a nervous disorder that worsened after the death of his mother.
In 1679, Newton returned to work and gained fame by studying the trajectories of the planets and their satellites. As a result of these studies, also accompanied by disputes with Hooke about priority, the law of universal gravitation and Newton's laws of mechanics, as we now call them, were formulated. Newton summarized his research in the book “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” ( Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica), presented to the Royal Society in 1686 and published a year later. This work, which marked the beginning of the then scientific revolution, brought Newton worldwide recognition.
His religious views and his strong commitment to Protestantism also attracted the attention of Newton among wide circles of the English intellectual elite, and especially the philosopher John Locke (John Locke, 1632-1704). Spending more and more time in London, Newton became involved in the political life of the capital and in 1696 was appointed Warden of the Mint. Although this position had traditionally been considered a sinecure, Newton approached his work with the utmost seriousness, considering the recoinage of English coins as an effective measure in the fight against counterfeiters. It was at this time that Newton was involved in another priority dispute, this time with Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), over the discovery of differential calculus. At the end of his life, Newton published new editions of his major works, and also served as President of the Royal Society, while holding the life-long position of Director of the Mint.
