Isaac Newton Research Paper

Isaac Newton was born into a single-parent household as a premature baby on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England (“Isaac Newton”). He never met his father, who died prior to his birth; this left Newton alone with his mother, who remarried a churchman three years later ( "Isaac Newton Biography."). Not long after the marriage, she abandoned him, leaving him with his maternal grandmother (“Isaac Newton: The Man Who Discovered Gravity” 2016). This lack of emotional support from much of his family led Newton to seek out the company of books, starting him down a very scholarly path from a young age (“Isaac Newton: The Man Who Discovered Gravity” 2016). B. Education

In 1654, Newton was a tenant at the

In 1672, Newton had his first significant run-in with the Royal Society, a prestigious gathering of philosophers and scientists who routinely met to discuss their experiments. After he redesigned the telescope so that it utilized reflection rather than refraction techniques and submitted it to them, he was quickly accepted into their highly selective group (“Isaac Newton, Sir” 1998). This success gave Newton the boost in confidence he needed to publish a particular paper, one that was likely better left unshared. In a series of earlier experiments involving a prism, Newton discovered the composition of visible light. However, he also reached some conclusions which seemed to violate the generally accepted notions about light and energy at the time. These results, once published, were dire for Newton, as leading scholars laid waste to his reputation and began to abase and denounce him, questioning his credibility as a scientist (“Isaac Newton, Sir” 1998). These attacks took a heavy toll on Newton’s morale; he turned away from science and began dabbling in religion and alchemy. Even after this catastrophe, however, Newton proved that he was more than capable of reentering the public sphere in other ways. While he did not accomplish anything significant, he managed to secure a position in Parliament. He also served as Master of the Mint starting in 1700, where he cracked down on counterfeiters and made grand plans to revitalize the English monetary system (“Isaac Newton: The Man Who Discovered Gravity”