Newton Isaac Biography
Sir *Isaac Newton* (or *Newton*) (eng. /Sir Isaac Newton/, 25 December 1642 — 20 March 1727 by the Julian calendar in force in England until 1752; or 4 January 1643 — 31 March 1727 by the Gregorian calendar) an English physicist, mathematician, engineer and astronomer, one of the creators of classical physics.
The author of the fundamental work "Mathematical principles of Natural Philosophy", in which he outlined the law of universal gravitation and the three laws of mechanics that became the basis of classical mechanics.
He developed differential and integral calculus, color theory, and many other mathematical and physical theories.
Early years
Isaac Newton, the son of a small but well to do farmer Isaac Newton (1606-1642), was born in the village of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, on the eve of the Civil War.
Newton's father did not live to see the birth of his son.
The boy was born prematurely, was sickly, so they did not dare to baptize him for a long time.
And yet he survived, was baptized (January 1), and named Isaac in honor of his late father.
The fact of being born on Christmas Eve, Newton considered a special sign of fate.
Despite poor health in infancy, he lived 84 years.
Newton sincerely believed that his family dates back to the Scottish nobles of the XV century, but historians have discovered that in 1524 his ancestors were poor peasants.
By the end of the XVI century, the family became rich and passed into the category of yeomen (landowners).
through experiments, he proved that the white color is a mixture of the colors of the spectrum.
Later, Newton recalled these years:
At the beginning of 1665, I found the method of approximate series and the rule for turning any degree of a binomial into such a series... in November I received the direct method of fluxions ; in January of the following year I received the theory of colors, and in May I started the inverse method of fluxions ...
At that time I was experiencing the best time of my youth and was more interested in mathematics and philosophy than ever afterwards.
But his most significant discovery during these years was the law of universal gravitation.
Later, in 1686, Newton wrote to Halley:
In papers written more than 15 years ago (I canot 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 planets ' gravity to the Sun as a function of distance and calculated the correct ratio of the earth's gravity and the conatus recedendi of the Moon to the center of the Earth, although not quite accurately.
The inaccuracy mentioned by Newton was caused by the fact that Newton took the dimensions of the Earth and the magnitude of the acceleration of free fall from Galileo's Mechanics, where they were given with a significant error.
Later, Newton received more accurate data from Picard and finally became convinced of the truth of his theory.
There is a well known legend that Newton discovered the law of gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree branch.
For the first time, the" Newton's apple "was briefly mentioned by Newton's biographer William Stukely (the book "Memories of Newton's Life", 1752):
After lunch, the weather was warm, we went out into the garden and drank tea in the shade of apple trees.
He told me that the idea of gravity came to his mind when he was sitting under a tree in the same way.
He was in a contemplative mood when an apple suddenly fell from a branch.
"Why do apples always fall perpendicular to the ground?"
— What's wrong? " he thought.
The legend became popular thanks to Voltaire.
In fact, as can be seen from Newton's workbooks, his theory of universal gravitation developed gradually.
Another biographer, Henry Pemberton, gives Newton's reasoning (without mentioning the apple) in more detail: "comparing the periods of several planets and their distances to the Sun, he found that... this force should decrease in quadratic proportionality with increasing distance."
In other words, Newton discovered that from Kepler's third law, which connects the periods of rotation of the planets with the distance to the Sun, it follows exactly 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 was not chasing fame.
In 1670, he wrote to John Collins: "I do not see anything desirable in fame, even if I were able to earn it.
This would probably increase the number of my acquaintances, but this is exactly what I try to avoid most of all."
He did not publish his first scientific work (October 1666), which set out the basics of analysis; it was found only 300 years later.
The beginning of scientific fame (1667-1684)
In March and June 1666, Newton visited Cambridge.
However, in the summer, a new wave of the plague forced him to go home again.
Finally, at the beginning of 1667, the epidemic subsided, and in April Newton returned to Cambridge.
On October 1, he was elected a fellow of Trinity College, and in 1668 became a master.
He was given a spacious separate room for housing, assigned a salary (2 pounds per year) and handed over a group of students 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 consolidated his position, Newton made a trip to London, where shortly before, in 1660, the Royal Society of London was established — an authoritative organization of prominent scientific figures, one of the first Academies of sciences.
The journal "Philosophical Transactions" (English /Philosophical Transactions/) was the printing organ of the Royal Society.
In 1669, mathematical works using expansions into infinite series began to appear in Europe.
Although these discoveries were not in any way comparable in depth to Newtonian ones, Barrow insisted that his student fix his priority in this matter.
Newton wrote a brief but fairly complete summary of this part of his discoveries, which he called "Analysis using equations with an infinite number of terms".
Barrow forwarded this treatise to London.
Newton asked Barrow not to disclose the name of the author of the work (but he still let it slip).
The "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, the 26 year old Newton was elected his successor, professor of mathematics and optics at Trinity College, with a high salary of 100 pounds a year.
Barrow left Newton an extensive alchemical laboratory; during this period, Newton became seriously interested in alchemy, conducted a lot of chemical experiments.
At the same time, Newton continued experiments on optics and color theory.
Newton investigated spherical and chromatic aberrations.
To minimize them, he built a mixed telescope reflector: a lens and a concave spherical mirror, which he made and polished himself.
The project of such a telescope was first proposed by James Gregory (1663), but this idea was never realized.
The first design of Newton (1668) was unsuccessful, but the next one, with a more carefully polished mirror, despite its small size, gave a 40 fold increase in excellent quality.
Rumors about the new instrument quickly reached London, and Newton was invited to show his invention to the scientific community.
In late 1671 early 1672, a demonstration of the reflector was held before the king, and then at the Royal Society.
The device caused universal rave reviews.
Probably, the practical importance of the invention also played a role: astronomical observations served to accurately determine the time, which in turn was necessary for navigation at sea.
Newton became famous and in January 1672 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
Later, improved reflectors became the main tools of astronomers, with their help the planet Uranus, other galaxies, and the red shift were discovered.
At first, Newton treasured communication with colleagues from the Royal Society, which included, in addition to Barrow, James Gregory, John Vallis, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and other famous figures of English science.
However, tedious conflicts soon began, which Newton did not like very much.
In particular, a noisy controversy broke out about the nature of light.
It began with the fact that in February 1672, Newton published in Philosophical Transactions a detailed description of his classical experiments with prisms and his theory of color.
Hooke, who had previously published his own theory, said 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 did not respond to their criticism until six months later, but by this time the number of critics had increased significantly.
The avalanche of incompetent attacks caused Newton irritation and depression.
Newton asked the secretary of the Oldenburg Society not to forward any more critical letters to him and vowed for the future: do not 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 all his strength on reflecting unfriendly amateur criticism.
In the end, he chose the first option and made a declaration of withdrawal from the Royal Society (March 8, 1673).
Oldenburg had some difficulty persuading him to stay, but scientific contacts with the Society were kept to a minimum for a long time.
In 1673, two important events occurred.
First, by royal decree, Newton's old friend and patron, Isaac Barrow, returned to Trinity, now as the head ("master") of the college.
Secondly, Leibniz, who was known at that time as a philosopher and inventor, became interested in Newton's mathematical discoveries.
Having received Newton's work of 1669 on infinite series and having studied it deeply, he further independently began to develop his version of 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 general methods that had not yet been 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 another letter from Leibniz.
The first brief publication on the Newtonian version of the analysis appeared only in 1693, when the Leibniz version had already spread widely throughout Europe.
The end of the 1670s was sad for Newton.
In May 1677, 47 year old Barrow died unexpectedly.
In the winter of the same year, a strong fire broke out in Newton's house, and part of Newton's manuscript archive burned down.
In September 1677, the secretary of the Royal Society Oldenburg, who favored Newton, died, and Hooke, who disliked Newton, became the new secretary.
In 1679, Anne's mother became seriously ill but; Newton, having left all his affairs, came to her, took an active part in caring for the patient, but the mother's condition quickly deteriorated, and she died.
His mother and Barrow were among the few people who brightened up Newton's loneliness.
"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1684-1686)
The history of the creation of this work, 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, not wanting to get involved in new scientific disputes and bickering, refused.
In August 1684, Halley came to Cambridge and told Newton that he, Wren and Hooke had discussed how to deduce the ellipticity of the orbits of the planets from the formula of the law of gravity, but did not know how to approach the solution.
Newton said that he already had such a proof, and in November he sent Halley the finished manuscript.
The latter immediately appreciated the significance of the result and method, immediately visited Newton again and this time managed to persuade him to publish his discoveries.
On December 10, 1684, a historical record appeared in the minutes of the Royal Society:
Mr. Halley ... recently saw Mr. Newton in Cambridge, and he showed him an interesting treatise "De motu".
According to Mr. Halley's wish, Newton promised to send the said treatise to the Society.
The work on the book was carried out in 1684-1686.
According to the memoirs of Humphrey Newton, a relative of the scientist and his assistant during these years, at first Newton wrote "Beginnings" in the intervals between alchemical experiments, which he focused on, then gradually became interested and enthusiastically devoted himself to working on the main book of his life.
The publication was supposed to be carried out at the expense of the Royal Society, but at the beginning of 1686, the Society published a treatise on the history of fish that did not find demand, and thereby exhausted its budget.
Then Halley announced that he was taking the costs of publishing on himself.
The Society gratefully accepted this generous offer and, as a partial compensation, provided Halley with 50 copies of a treatise on the history of fish free of charge.
Newton's work perhaps by analogy with Descartes '" Principles of Philosophy "(1644) or, according to some historians of science, with a challenge to the Cartesians — was called" Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy "(Latin /Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica/), that is, in modern language,"Mathematical Foundations of Physics".
On April 28, 1686, the first volume of the Mathematical Principles was presented to the Royal Society.
All three volumes, after some author's editing, were published in 1687.
Circulation (about 300 copies) it was sold out in 4 years — very quickly for that time.
Both the physical and mathematical level of Newton's work are completely incomparable with the works of his predecessors.
It lacks Aristotelian or Cartesian metaphysics, with its vague reasoning and vaguely formulated, often far fetched "root causes" of natural phenomena.
Newton, for example, does not proclaim that the law of gravitation 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, search for its causes.
This approach, which was initiated by Galileo, meant the end of the old physics.
Qualitative description of nature has given way to quantitative 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 the amount of motion.
Three laws of mechanics are formulated.
A strict conclusion is given from the law of gravity of all three Kepler laws.
Note that hyperbolic and parabolic orbits of celestial bodies unknown to Kepler were also described.
Newton does not directly discuss the truth of the Copernican heliocentric system, but implies it; he even estimates the deviation of the Sun from the center of mass of the Solar System.
In other words, the Sun in the Newton system, unlike Kepler's, does not rest, but obeys the general laws of motion.
The comets, whose orbits caused great controversy at that time, are also included in the general system.
The weak point of Newton's theory of gravity, according to many scientists of that time, was the lack of an 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 XVIII century forced physicists to temporarily reconcile with Newtonian theory.
The physical foundations of gravity became clear only after more than two centuries, with the advent of the General Theory of Relativity.
Newton built the mathematical apparatus and the general structure of the book as close as possible to the then standard of scientific rigor — the "Principles" of Euclid.
He deliberately did not use mathematical analysis almost anywhere — the use of new, unusual methods would jeopardize the credibility of the results presented.
This caution, however, devalued the Newtonian method of presentation for the next 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 the old methods of mathematical research.
All the followers of Newton have already used the powerful methods of mathematical analysis created by him.
The largest direct successors of the Newton case were D'Alembert, Euler, Laplace, Clereau and Lagrange.
During the author's lifetime, the book went through three editions, and with each reprint, the author made significant additions and clarifications to the book.
Administrative activity (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 administration hesitated, not wanting to break the law or annoy the king; soon a delegation of scientists, including Newton, was called to punish the Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys, known for his rudeness and cruelty.
Newton opposed any compromise that infringed on the university's autonomy, and persuaded the delegation to take a principled position.
As a result, the vice chancellor of the university was removed from office, but the king's wish was never fulfilled.
In one of the letters of these years, Newton outlined his political principles:
Every honest man, 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 according to the law, then no one should suffer if he neglects such a requirement.
In 1689, after the overthrow of King James II, Newton was elected to parliament for the first time from the University of Cambridge and sat there for a 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 to close the window to avoid a draft.
In fact, Newton performed his parliamentary duties with the same conscientiousness with which he treated all his affairs.
Around 1691, Newton became seriously ill (most likely, he was poisoned during chemical experiments, although there are other versions — fatigue, shock after a fire that caused the loss of important results, and age related ailments).
His relatives feared for his sanity; several of his surviving letters from this period really indicate a mental disorder.
Only at the end of 1693 did Newton's health fully recover.
In 1679, Newton met at Trinity with a 18 year old aristocrat, a lover of science and alchemy, Charles Montagu (1661-1715).
Probably Newton Montague made a strong impression, because in 1696, as Lord Halifax, President of the Royal society and Chancellor of the Exchequer (the Finance Minister of England), Montagu proposed that the king appoint Newton warden of the Mint.
The king gave his consent, and in 1696 Newton took up this position, left Cambridge and moved to London.
Since 1699, he became a manager ("master") The mint.
To begin with, Newton thoroughly studied the technology of coin production, put the document flow in order, and redid the accounting over the past 30 years.
At the same time, Newton vigorously and expertly promoted the monetary reform carried out by Montagu, restoring confidence in the thoroughly launched by his predecessors, the monetary system of England.
In England of these years, almost exclusively non weight, and in considerable quantities, counterfeit coins were in circulation.
The cutting of the edges of silver coins has become widespread.
Now the coin began to be produced on special machines and there was an inscription on their rim, so that criminal grinding of metal became almost impossible.
The old, non weight silver coin was completely withdrawn from circulation and re minted for 2 years, the issue of new coins increased to keep up with the need for them, their quality improved.
Earlier, during such reforms, the population had to change the old money by weight, after that the amount of cash decreased as for individuals (private and legal), and throughout the country, but interest and loan obligations remained the same, which caused the economy to stagnate.
Newton also proposed to exchange money at face value, which prevented these problems, and the inevitable deficit of funds after this was made up by taking loans from other countries (most of all from the Netherlands), inflation fell sharply, but the external public debt grew to unprecedented sizes in the history of England by the middle of the century.
But during this time, there was a noticeable economic growth, because of it, tax deductions to the treasury increased (equal in size to the French, despite the fact that France was inhabited by 2.5 times more people), due to this, the state debt was gradually paid.
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, verification commissions constantly appeared.
As it turned out, many of the denunciations came from counterfeiters, irritated by the Newtonian reforms.
Newton, as a rule, was indifferent to slander, but he never forgave if it affected his honor and reputation.
He personally participated 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 North American colonies, but several leaders were executed.
The number of counterfeit coins in England has significantly decreased.
Montague, in his memoirs, praised the extraordinary abilities of the administrator shown by Newton and ensured the success of the reform.
Thus, the reforms carried out by the scientist not only prevented the economic crisis, but also led to a significant increase in the country's well being after decades.
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 coin 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 "Beginnings" to Tsar Peter in Russia.
Two events of 1699 became a symbol of Newton's scientific triumph: the teaching of Newton's world system began in Cambridge (since 1704 - in Oxford), and the Paris Academy of Sciences, the stronghold of his Cartesian 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 his successor and managed the Society for the rest of his life — more than twenty years.
Unlike his predecessors, he personally attended all the 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 (besides Halley, Denis Papin, Abraham de Moivre, Roger Cotes, Brooke Taylor can be distinguished among them), interesting experiments were conducted and discussed, the quality of journal articles improved significantly, financial problems were mitigated.
The society got paid secretaries and its own residence (on Fleet Street), Newton paid for the costs of moving 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.
Recent years
In 1704, the monograph "Optics" was published (first in English), which determined the development of this science until the beginning of the XIX century.
It contained an appendix "On the quadrature of curves" — the first and fairly complete presentation of the Newtonian 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 studies that Newton devoted the rest of his life.
Newton remained the manager of the Mint, since this post, unlike the post of warden, did not require him to be particularly active.
Twice a week he went to the Mint, once a week to a meeting of the Royal Society.
Newton never made a trip outside of England.
In 1705, Queen Anne knighted Newton.
For the first time in English history, the title of knight was awarded for scientific merits; the next time it happened more than a century later (1819, in relation to Humphrey Davy).
For the first time in English history, the title of knight was awarded for scientific merits; the next time it happened more than a century later (1819, in relation to Humphrey Davy).
However, some biographers believe that the queen was guided not by scientific, but by political motives.
Newton got his own coat of arms and not very reliable pedigree.
In 1707, a collection of Newton's lectures on algebra was published, called "Universal Arithmetic".
The numerical methods presented in it marked the birth of a new promising discipline — numerical analysis.
In 1708, an open priority dispute with Leibniz began (see below), in which even the reigning personages were involved.
This feud between the two geniuses cost science dearly — the English mathematical school soon reduced its activity for a whole century, and the European school ignored many of Newton's outstanding ideas, rediscovering them much later.
The conflict was not extinguished even by the death of Leibniz (1716).
The first edition of Newton's "Beginnings" has long been sold out.
Newton's long term work on the preparation of the 2nd edition, refined and supplemented, was crowned with success in 1710, when the first volume of the new edition was published (the last, the third — in 1713).
The initial circulation (700 copies) was clearly insufficient, in 1714 and 1723 there was a reprint.
When finalizing the second volume, Newton, as an exception, had to return to physics to explain the discrepancy between the theory and experimental data, and he immediately made a major discovery — the hydrodynamic compression of the jet.
Now the theory was in good agreement with the experiment.
Newton added a "Lesson" to the end of the book with a scathing criticism of the" theory of vortices", with which his Cartesian opponents tried to explain the motion of the planets.
To the natural question "how really?" in the book, the famous and honest answer follows:"I still could not deduce the reason... for the properties of the gravitational force from phenomena, I do not invent hypotheses."
In April 1714, Newton summarized his experience of financial regulation and submitted to the Treasury his article "Observations on the value of gold and silver".
The article contained specific proposals for adjusting the value of precious metals.
These proposals were partially accepted, and this had a favorable impact on the English economy.
Shortly before his death, Newton became one of the victims of a financial scam of a large trading "South Sea Company", which enjoyed the support of the government.
He purchased the company's securities for a large sum, and also insisted on their acquisition by the Royal Society.
On September 24, 1720, the company's bank declared itself bankrupt.
Niece Catherine recalled in her notes that Newton lost more than 20,000 pounds, after which he declared that he could calculate the movement of celestial bodies, but not the degree of madness of the crowd.
However, many biographers believe that Catherine did not mean a real loss, but a failure to receive the expected profit.
After the bankruptcy of the company, Newton offered the Royal Society to compensate for the losses out of his own pocket, but his offer was rejected.
Newton devoted the last years of his life to writing the "Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms", which he was engaged in for about 40 years, as well as preparing the third edition of the "Beginnings", which was published in 1726.
Unlike the second, the changes in the third edition were small — mainly the results of new astronomical observations, including a fairly complete handbook of comets observed since the XIV century.
Among others, the calculated orbit of Halley's comet was presented, the new appearance of which at the specified time (1758) clearly confirmed the theoretical calculations (by that time already deceased) Newton and Halley.
The circulation of the book for a scientific publication of those years could be considered huge: 1250 copies.
In 1725, Newton's health began to deteriorate noticeably, and he moved to Kensington near London, where he died at night, in his sleep, on March 20 (31), 1727.
He did not leave a written will, but he transferred a significant part of his large fortune to his closest relatives shortly before his death.
