Sunday 2 August 2015

Isaac Newton's early life and education.



Isaac Newton was born in the hamlet of Woolsthorpe, England on January 4, 1643. He was the only son of a successful farmer (also named Isaac Newton) who had died three months before he was born.


When he was three years old, his mother (Hannah Ayscough Newton) remarried a wealthy minister whom she went to live with, leaving young Newton with his maternal grandmother. This experience left an unforgettable imprint on Newton that later developed itself into an acute sense of insecurity.

It wasn’t until Hannah returned to Woolsthorpe in 1653 after the death of her second husband that Newton was granted attention from his mother, it was later discovered that this was a clue to his complex character. Newton’s childhood was anything but happy, and throughout his life he verged on emotional collapse, occasionally falling into violent and vindictive attacks against friend and foe.




Isaac Newton's education:


Beginning at the age of 12, Newton attended King's School, Grantham, where he was taught the basics, but no science or mathematics. With his mother's return to Woolsthorpe in 1653, 17 year old Newton was taken out of school to fulfill his birthright as a farmer. Newton happily failed in this field of work and returned to Kings's School at Grantham to prepare for entrance to Trinity College, Cambridge.


However before going to Trinity College, Newton finished his schooling at King's School as the top student. June, 1661 was the major turning point in Newton's life, this was when he left Woolsthorpe for Cambridge University. Here Newton entered a new world, one he could eventually call his own.

At the time when Newton was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle. In 1665 Newton discovered the generalised binomial theorem (a formula for finding any power of a binomial without multiplying at length), Newton began to develop a mathematical theory that later became infinitesimal calculus.

Soon after Newton had obtained his bachelor's degree in August 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the Great Plague. Although Newton had been undistinguished as a Cambridge student, Newton's private studies at his home in Woolsthorpe over the next two years saw the development of his theories on calculus, optics and the law of gravitation. In 1667 he returned to cambridge as a fellow of Trinity




King's School, Grantham


Trinity University, Cambride 1665


Trinity University, Cambridge present day



Below is a simple explanation of Isaac Newton discovering gravity!






4 comments:

  1. Great information but can you please add a few images of where he attended school?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great information but can you please add a few images of where he attended school?

    ReplyDelete