Isaac Newton

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Sir Isaac Newton FRS (Modèle:PronEng) (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727]<ref name="OSNS"/> was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. His treatise Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries and is the basis for modern engineering. He showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

In mechanics, Newton enunciated the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum. In optics, he invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into a visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.

In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of the calculus. He also demonstrated the generalized binomial theorem, developed the so-called "Newton's method" for approximating the zeroes of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.

In a 2005 poll of the Royal Society of who had the greatest effect on the history of science, Newton was deemed more influential than Albert Einstein.<ref> Newton beats Einstein in polls of scientists and the public

. The Royal Society

. Retrieved on 2006-10-25. </ref>

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Biography

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Early years

Main article: Isaac Newton's early life and achievements

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Newton in a 1702 portrait by Godfrey Kneller.

Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 [OS: December 25, 1642]<ref name="OSNS"/> at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. At the time of Newton's birth, England had not adopted the latest papal calendar and therefore his date of birth was recorded as Christmas Day, December 25, 1642. Newton was born three months after the death of his father. Born prematurely, he was a small child; his mother Hannah Ayscough reportedly said that he could have fit inside a quart mug. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabus Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery Ayscough. The young Isaac disliked his stepfather and held some enmity towards his mother for marrying him, as revealed by this entry in a list of sins committed up to the age of 19: Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.<ref>Cohen, I.B. (1970). Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 11, p.43. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons</ref>

Newton is believed by some researchers to have suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism.<ref>Einstein and Newton 'had autism, BBC News, 30 April 2003[1]</ref><ref>Muir, Hazel: Einstein and Newton showed signs of autism, NewScientist, 30 April 2003[2]</ref> Indeed it is believed that like certain other historical geniuses Asperger's may have been the very cause of Newton's intellect.

According to E.T. Bell and H. Eves:

Newton began his schooling in the village schools and was later sent to The King's School, Grantham, where he became the top student in the school. At King's, he lodged with the local apothecary, William Clarke and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storer, before he went off to the University of Cambridge at the age of 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storer married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded "sweet-hearts" and never married.<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref>

There are a rumours that he remained a virgin.<ref>Book Review Isaac Newton biography December 2003</ref> However, Bell and Eves' sources for this claim, William Stukeley and Mrs. Vincent (the former Miss Storer — actually named Katherine, not Anne), merely say that Newton entertained "a passion" for Storer while he lodged at the Clarke house.

From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The King's School, Grantham (where his signature can still be seen upon a library window sill). He was removed from school, and by October 1659, he was to be found at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, where his mother, widowed by now for a second time, attempted to make a farmer of him. He was, by later reports of his contemporaries, thoroughly unhappy with the work. It appears to have been Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, who persuaded his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. This he did at the age of eighteen, achieving an admirable final report.

In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of Aristotle, but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as Descartes and astronomers such as Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler. In 1665, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his degree in April of 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the Great Plague. For the next 2 years, Newton worked at his home in Woolsthorpe on calculus, optics and the law of gravitation.

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Middle years

Main article: Isaac Newton's middle years

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Isaac Newton (Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889)

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Mathematics

Most modern historians believe that Newton and Leibniz had developed calculus independently, using their own unique notations. According to Newton's inner circle, Newton had worked out his method years before Leibniz, yet he published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a full account until 1704. Meanwhile, Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684. Moreover, Leibniz's notation and "differential Method" were universally adopted on the Continent, and after 1820 or so, in the British Empire. Whereas Leibniz's notebooks show the advancement of the ideas from early stages until maturity, there is only the end product in Newton's known notes. Newton claimed that he had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared being mocked for it. Newton had a very close relationship with Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, who from the beginning was impressed by Newton's gravitational theory. In 1691 Duillier planned to prepare a new version of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, but never finished it. Some of Newton's biographers have suggested that the relationship may have been romantic.<ref>Biography of Isaac Newton at www.knittingcircle.org.uk</ref> However, in 1694 the relationship between the two men cooled down. At the time, Duillier had also exchanged several letters with Leibniz.

Starting in 1699, other members of the Royal Society (of which Newton was a member) accused Leibniz of plagiarism, and the dispute broke out in full force in 1711. Newton's Royal Society proclaimed in a study that it was Newton who was the true discoverer and labeled Leibniz a fraud. This study was cast into doubt when it was later found that Newton himself wrote the study's concluding remarks on Leibniz. Thus began the bitter Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy, which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716.

Newton is generally credited with the generalized binomial theorem, valid for any exponent. He discovered Newton's identities, Newton's method, classified cubic plane curves (polynomials of degree three in two variables), made substantial contributions to the theory of finite differences, and was the first to use fractional indices and to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions to Diophantine equations. He approximated partial sums of the harmonic series by logarithms (a precursor to Euler's summation formula), and was the first to use power series with confidence and to revert power series. He also discovered a new formula for calculating pi.

He was elected Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. In that day, any fellow of Cambridge or Oxford had to be an ordained Anglican priest. However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder not be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted.

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Optics

From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the refraction of light, demonstrating that a prism could decompose white light into a spectrum of colours, and that a lens and a second prism could recompose the multicoloured spectrum into white light.

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A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the Royal Society.

He also showed that the coloured light does not change its properties, by separating out a coloured beam and shining it on various objects. Newton noted that regardless of whether it was reflected or scattered or transmitted, it stayed the same colour. Thus the colours we observe are the result of how objects interact with the incident already-coloured light, not the result of objects generating the colour. For more details, see Newton's theory of colour.

From this work he concluded that any refracting telescope would suffer from the dispersion of light into colours, and invented a reflecting telescope (today known as a Newtonian telescope) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors, using Newton's rings to judge the quality of the optics for his telescopes, he was able to produce a superior instrument to the refracting telescope, due primarily to the wider diameter of the mirror. In 1671 the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. Their interest encouraged him to publish his notes On Colour, which he later expanded into his Opticks. When Robert Hooke criticised some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. The two men remained enemies until Hooke's death.

Newton argued that light is composed of particles or corpuscles and were refracted by accelerating toward the denser medium, but he had to associate them with waves to explain the diffraction of light (Opticks Bk. II, Props. XII-L). Later physicists instead favoured a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for diffraction. Today's quantum mechanics, photons and the idea of wave-particle duality bear only a minor resemblance to Newton's understanding of light.

In his Hypothesis of Light of 1675, Newton posited the existence of the ether to transmit forces between particles. The contact with the theosophist Henry More, revived his interest in alchemy. He replaced the ether with occult forces based on Hermetic ideas of attraction and repulsion between particles. John Maynard Keynes, who acquired many of Newton's writings on alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref> Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science.<ref>Modèle:Cite book notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches.</ref> (This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science.) Had he not relied on the occult idea of action at a distance, across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity. (See also Isaac Newton's occult studies.)

In 1704 Newton wrote Opticks, in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. He considered light to be made up of extremely subtle corpuscles, that ordinary matter was made of grosser corpuscles and speculated that through a kind of alchemical transmutation "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another, ...and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?"<ref>Modèle:Cite journal quoting Opticks</ref> Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional electrostatic generator, using a glass globe (Optics, 8th Query).

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Mechanics and gravitation

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Newton's own copy of his Principia, with hand-written corrections for the second edition.

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In 1677, Newton returned to his work on mechanics, i.e., gravitation and its effect on the orbits of planets, with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and consulting with Hooke and Flamsteed on the subject. He published his results in De Motu Corporum (1684). This contained the beginnings of the laws of motion that would inform the Principia.

The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (now known as the Principia) was published on 5 July 1687 with encouragement and financial help from Edmond Halley. In this work Newton stated the three universal laws of motion that were not to be improved upon for more than two hundred years. He used the Latin word gravitas (weight) for the force that would become known as gravity, and defined the law of universal gravitation. In the same work he presented the first analytical determination, based on Boyle's law, of the speed of sound in air.

With the Principia, Newton became internationally recognised. He acquired a circle of admirers, including the Swiss-born mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, with whom he formed an intense relationship that lasted until 1693. The end of this friendship led Newton to a nervous breakdown.

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Later life

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Isaac Newton in 1712. Portrait by Sir James Thornhill.

In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible. Henry More's belief in the universe and rejection of Cartesian dualism may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to John Locke in which he disputed the existence of the Trinity was never published. Later works — The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) and Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733) — were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above).

Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but his only recorded comments were to complain about a cold draft in the chamber and request that the window be closed.

Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and securing the job of deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch for Edmond Halley). Newton became perhaps the best-known Master of the Mint upon Lucas' death in 1699, a position Newton held until his death. These appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously, retiring from his Cambridge duties in 1701, and exercising his power to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters. As Master of the Mint in 1717 Newton unofficially moved the Pound Sterling from the silver standard to the gold standard by creating a relationship between gold coins and the silver penny in the "Law of Queen Anne"; these were all great reforms at the time, adding considerably to the wealth and stability of England. It was his work at the Mint, rather than his earlier contributions to science, that earned him a knighthood from Queen Anne in 1705.

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Newton's grave in Westminster Abbey

Newton was made President of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French Académie des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's star catalogue, which Newton had used in his studies.

Newton died in London on March 31, 1727 [OS: March 20, 1727]<ref name="OSNS"/>, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His half-niece, Catherine Barton Conduitt,<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 44.</ref> served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London; he was her "very loving Uncle,"<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 595</ref> according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox. Although Newton, who had no children, had divested much of his estate onto relatives in his last years he actually died intestate.

After his death, Newton's body was discovered to have had massive amounts of mercury in it, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.<ref> Newton, Isaac (1642-1727)

. Eric Weisstein's World of Biography

. Retrieved on 2006-08-30. </ref>

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Religious views

Main article: Isaac Newton's religious views

Although the laws of motion and universal gravitation became Newton's best-known discoveries, he warned against using them to view the universe as a mere machine, as if akin to a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."<ref name="tiner">Modèle:Cite book</ref>

His scientific fame notwithstanding, Newton's studies of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were also noteworthy. Newton wrote works on textual criticism, most notably An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture. He also placed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at 3 April, AD 33, which agrees with one traditionally accepted date.<ref>John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, v. 1, pp. 382–402 after narrowing the years to 30 or 33, provisionally judges 30 most likely.</ref> He also attempted, unsuccessfully, to find hidden messages within the Bible (see Bible code).

Newton may have rejected the church's doctrine of the Trinity. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that he more likely held the Eastern Orthodox view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and most Protestants.<ref>Modèle:Cite journal</ref> In his own day, he was also accused of being a Rosicrucian (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II).<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref>

In his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He believed in a rationally immanent world, but he rejected the hylozoism implicit in Leibniz and Baruch Spinoza. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed universe could be understood, and must be understood, by an active reason, but this universe, to be perfect and ordained, had to be regular.

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Newton's effect on religious thought

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"Newton," by William Blake; here, Newton is depicted as a "divine geometer"

Newton and Robert Boyle’s mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians.<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref> Thus, the clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism,<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref> and, at the same time, the second wave of English deists used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion."

The attacks made against pre-Enlightenment "magical thinking," and the mystical elements of Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through mathematical proofs and, perhaps more importantly, was very successful in popularising them.<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref> Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles.<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref> These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed people to pursue their own aims fruitfully in this life, not the next, and to perfect themselves with their own rational powers.<ref>Modèle:Cite book</ref>

Newton saw God as the master creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.<ref>Principia, Book III; cited in; Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings, p. 42, ed. H.S. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, NY, 1953.</ref><ref>A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ibid, p. 65.</ref><ref>Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. “The emergence of Rational Dissent.” Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p19.</ref> But the unforeseen theological consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the world’s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in God’s creation, something impossible for a perfect and omnipotent creator.<ref> Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. p201.</ref> Leibniz's theodicy cleared God from the responsibility for "l'origine du mal" by making God removed from participation in his creation. The understanding of the world was now brought down to the level of simple human reason, and humans, as Odo Marquard argued, became responsible for the correction and elimination of evil.<ref>Marquard, Odo. "Burdened and Disemburdened Man and the Flight into Unindictability," in Farewell to Matters of Principle. Robert M. Wallace trans. London: Oxford UP, 1989.</ref>

On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the millenarians, a religious faction dedicated to the concept of a mechanical universe, but finding in it the same enthusiasm and mysticism that the Enlightenment had fought so hard to extinguish.<ref>Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689–1720. p100–101.</ref>

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Views of the end of the world

Modèle:See also Modèle:See also In a manuscript he wrote in 1704 in which he describes his attempts to extract scientific information from the Bible, he estimated that the world would end no earlier than 2060. In predicting this he said, "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."<ref> Papers Show Isaac Newton's Religious Side, Predict Date of Apocalypse

. The Associated Press 
 
 (19 June 2007)

. Retrieved on 2007-08-01. </ref>

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Newton and the counterfeiters

As warden of the Royal Mint, Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The Great Recoinage were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was high treason, punishable by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task.

He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a justice of the peace and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed.

Possibly Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner. One of Chaloner's schemes was to set up phony conspiracies of Catholics and then turn in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton was outraged, and went about the work to uncover anything about Chaloner. During his studies, he found that Chaloner was engaged in counterfeiting. He immediately put Chaloner on trial, but Mr Chaloner had friends in high places, and to Newton's horror, Chaloner walked free. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered on 23 March 1699 at Tyburn gallows.<ref>Westfall 1980, pp. 571–5</ref>

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Enlightenment philosophers

Enlightenment philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessors—Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principally—as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept of Nature and Natural Law to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded.<ref>Cassels, Alan. Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World. p2.</ref>

It was Newton’s conception of the universe based upon Natural and rationally understandable laws that became the seed for Enlightenment ideology. Locke and Voltaire applied concepts of Natural Law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the physiocrats and Adam Smith applied Natural conceptions of psychology and self-interest to economic systems and the sociologists criticised the current social order for trying to fit history into Natural models of progress. Monboddo and Samuel Clarke resisted elements of Newton's work, but eventually rationalised it to conform with their strong religious views of nature.

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Newton's laws of motion

Main article: Newton's laws of motion

The famous three laws of motion:

Newton's First Law (also known as the Law of Inertia) states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force.
Newton's Second Law states that an applied force, <math> F </math>, on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum, <math> p </math>. Mathematically, this is written as <math> \vec F = \frac{d\vec p}{dt} \, = \, \frac{d}{dt} (m \vec v) \, = \, \vec v \, \frac{dm}{dt} + m \, \frac{d\vec v}{dt} \,.</math> Assuming the mass to be constant, the first term vanishes. Defining the acceleration to be <math>\vec a \ =\ d\vec v/dt </math> results in the famous equation <math> \vec F = m \, \vec a \,</math> which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to its mass. In the MKS system of measurement, mass is given in kilograms, acceleration in metres per second squared, and force in newtons (named in his honour).
Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

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Newton's apple

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A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge.

Modèle:Cquote A popular story claims that Newton was inspired to formulate his theory of universal gravitation by the fall of an apple from a tree. Cartoons have gone further to suggest the apple actually hit Newton's head, and that its impact somehow made him aware of the force of gravity. John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the Royal Mint and husband of Newton's niece, described the event when he wrote about Newton's life:

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The question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the moon to its orbit. Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement. He guessed the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation".

A contemporary writer, William Stukeley, recorded in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726, in which Newton recalled "when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre." In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his Essay on Epic Poetry (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." These accounts are probably exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home (Woolsthorpe Manor) and watching an apple fall from a tree.

Various trees are claimed to be "the" apple tree which Newton describes. The King's School, Grantham, claims that the tree was purchased by the school, uprooted and transported to the headmaster's garden some years later, the staff of the [now] National Trust-owned Woolsthorpe Manor dispute this, and claim that a tree present in their gardens is the one described by Newton. A descendant of the original tree can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale<ref>http://www.brogdale.org.uk/nfc_home.php</ref> can supply grafts from their tree (ref 1948-729), which appears identical to Flower of Kent, a coarse-fleshed cooking variety.

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Writings by Newton

Method of Fluxions (1671)
Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation (1671–75) unpublished work on alchemy<ref>Newton's alchemical works transcribed and online at Indiana University retrieved January 11, 2007</ref>
De Motu Corporum in Gyrum (1684)
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
Opticks (1704)
Reports as Master of the Mint (1701–25)
Arithmetica Universalis (1707)
Short Chronicle, The System of the World, Optical Lectures, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended and De mundi systemate were published posthumously in 1728.
An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1754)

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Fame

French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange often said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived, and once added that he was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish."<ref>Fred L. Wilson, History of Science: Newton citing: Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J. L. Lagrange," Oeuvres de Lagrange I. Paris, 1867, p. xx.</ref> English poet Alexander Pope was moved by Newton's accomplishments to write the famous epitaph: Modèle:Cquote

Newton himself was rather more modest of his own achievements, famously writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in February 1676 Modèle:Cquote Historians generally think the above quote was an attack on Hooke (who was short and hunchbacked), rather than - or in addition to - a statement of modesty. The two were in a dispute over optical discoveries at the time. The latter interpretation also fits with many of his other disputes over his discoveries - such as the question of who discovered calculus as discussed above.

And then in a memoir later Modèle:Cquote

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Footnotes and references

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Resources

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References

Modèle:Cite book Excerpt
Modèle:Cite book This well documented work provides, in particular, valuable information regarding Newton's knowledge of Patristics
Sir Isaac Newton

. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

. Retrieved on 8 March, 2005.

The Newton Project

. Imperial College London

. Retrieved on 8 March, 2005.

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"The Invisible Science." Magical Egypt. Chance Gardner and John Anthony West. 2005.

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External links

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Pastore, Giovanni, Antikythera E I Regoli Calcolatori, Rome, 2006, privately published
The Antikythera Calculator (Italian and English versions)

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Isaac Newton

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-{{voir homonymes|Newton}}
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-[[Image:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg|thumb|Portrait d'Isaac Newton par [[Godfrey Kneller]] (1689)]]
+{{Infobox_Scientist
+|name = Sir Isaac Newton
+|image = GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg
+|image_width = 250px
+|caption = Isaac Newton at 46 in<br />[[Godfrey Kneller]]'s 1689 portrait
+|birth_date = {{birth date|1643|1|4|df=y}} <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[25 December]] [[1642]]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS">During Newton's lifetime, two calendars were in use in Europe: the [[Julian Calendar|Julian]] or 'Old Style' in Britain and parts of Eastern Europe, and the [[Gregorian Calendar|Gregorian]] or 'New Style' elsewhere. At Newton's birth, Gregorian dates were ten days ahead of Julian dates: thus Newton was born on Christmas Day, [[25 December]] [[1642]] by the Julian calendar, but on [[4 January]] [[1643]] by the Gregorian. Moreover, the English new year began on [[25 March]] (the anniversary of the Incarnation) and not on [[1 January]] (until the general adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the UK in 1753). Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of the dates in this article follow the Julian Calendar.</ref></small>
+|birth_place = [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[England]]
+|residence = [[England]]
+|nationality = [[England|English]]
+|death_date = {{death date and age|1727|3|31|1643|1|4|df=y}} <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[20 March]] [[1727]]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS"/></small>
+|death_place = [[Kensington]], [[London]], England
+|field = [[Theology]], [[Physics]], [[Mathematics]], [[Astronomy]], [[Natural philosophy]], [[Alchemy]]
+|work_institutions = [[University of Cambridge]]<br />[[Royal Society]]
+|alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
+|doctoral_advisor = [[Isaac Barrow]]
+|doctoral_students = [[Roger Cotes]]</br>[[William Whiston]]
+|known_for  = [[Newtonian mechanics]]</br>[[Universal gravitation]]</br>[[Calculus|Infinitesimal calculus]]</br>[[Optics|Classical optics]]
+|prizes =
+|religion =
+|signature = Newtons signature 1703.png
+|footnotes =
+}}
-'''Isaac Newton''' est un [[philosophe]], [[mathématicien]], [[physicien]] et [[astronome]] [[Angleterre|anglais]] né le [[4 janvier]] [[1643]] du [[calendrier grégorien]]<ref name="date">Les dates du [[25 décembre]] [[1642]] et [[20 mars]] [[1726]] que l'on trouve, notamment sur son tombeau à Westminster Abbey, pour la naissance et le décès d'Isaac Newton font référence au [[calendrier julien]], mais correspondent bien au [[4 janvier]] 1643 et au [[31 mars]] 1727 du [[calendrier grégorien]] ; lequel ne fut adopté en Grande-Bretagne qu'en [[1752]], avec pour conséquence le changement du début d'année, passant du 25 mars, au 1{{er}} janvier. (voir Michel Toulmonde, ''Les dates de Newton'' dans ''L'Astronomie'', Février 2007).</ref> au manoir de Woolsthorpe près de [[Grantham]] et mort le [[31 mars]] [[1727]]<ref name="date"/> à [[Kensington]]. Figure emblématique des sciences, il est surtout reconnu pour sa théorie de la [[gravitation]] et la création, en concurrence avec [[Leibniz]], du [[calcul infinitésimal]].
+'''Sir Isaac Newton''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ({{pronEng|ˈnjuːtən}}) ([[4 January]] [[1643]] – [[31 March]] [[1727]]) <small><nowiki>[</nowiki> [[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[25 December]] [[1642]] – [[20 March]] [[1727]]<nowiki>]</nowiki></small><ref name="OSNS"/> was an [[England|English]] [[physics|physicist]], [[mathematician]], [[astronomy|astronomer]], [[natural philosophy|natural philosopher]], and [[alchemy|alchemist]]. His treatise ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'', published in 1687, described [[law of universal gravitation|universal gravitation]] and the three [[Newton's laws of motion|laws of motion]], laying the groundwork for [[classical mechanics]], which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries and is the basis for modern engineering.  He showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of [[celestial mechanics|celestial]] bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion]] and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about [[heliocentrism]] and advancing the [[scientific revolution]].
-==Biographie==
+In mechanics, Newton enunciated the principles of [[Momentum|conservation of momentum]] and [[angular momentum]]. In [[optics]], he invented the [[reflecting telescope]] and developed a theory of [[colour]] based on the observation that a [[triangular prism (optics)|prism]] decomposes [[white]] [[light]] into a [[visible spectrum]].  He also formulated an empirical [[Newton's law of cooling|law of cooling]] and studied the [[speed of sound]].
-Isaac Newton est né le [[4 janvier]] [[1643]] à [[Woolsthorpe]], dans le [[Lincolnshire]] ([[Angleterre]]), de parents paysans. Son père meurt trois mois avant sa naissance, et sa mère se remarie... Le petit Isaac, qui a alors 2 ans, est donc placé chez sa grand-mère sous la tutelle de son oncle, son enfance semble ne pas être très heureuse. À 5 ans, il fréquente l’école primaire de [[Skillington]], puis celle de [[Stokes]].
-À 12 ans, il part pour l’école secondaire de [[Grantham]] où il est un élève médiocre, il y reste quatre années jusqu’à ce que sa mère le rappelle à Woolsthorpe pour qu’il devienne [[fermier]] et qu’il apprenne à administrer son domaine. Pourtant, sa mère, s’apercevant que son fils était plus doué pour la [[mécanique]] que pour le bétail, l’autorisa à retourner à l’école pour peut-être pouvoir entrer un jour à l’université. À 17 ans, Newton tombe amoureux d’une camarade de classe, mademoiselle Storey. On l’autorise à la fréquenter et même à la fiancer, mais il doit terminer ses études avant de se marier.<br>
+In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with [[Gottfried Leibniz]] for the [[history of calculus|development]] of the [[calculus]]. He also demonstrated the [[binomial theorem|generalized binomial theorem]], developed the so-called "[[Newton's method]]" for approximating the zeroes of a [[Function (mathematics)|function]], and contributed to the study of [[power series]].
-Finalement, le mariage tombe à l’eau quelques années après. Newton restera alors célibataire toute sa vie, et [[Voltaire]] écrira même qu’il n’aura connu aucune femme de sa vie.
-À l’université, il se fait repérer par [[Stokes]], qui l’aide à entrer au [[Trinity College (Cambridge)|Trinity College]] de [[Cambridge]]. À 18 ans, il entre alors au College (il y restera 7 ans), où il se fait remarquer par son maître, [[Isaac Barrow]]. Il y étudie l’[[arithmétique]], la [[géométrie]] dans les « éléments » d’[[Euclide]] et la [[trigonométrie]], mais s’intéresse personnellement à l’[[astronomie]], à l’[[alchimie]] et à la [[théologie]]. Il devient à 25 ans bachelier des arts, mais est contraint à stopper ses études pendant deux années suite à l’apparition de la [[peste]] qui s’est abattue sur la ville en [[1665]], il retourne dans sa région natale. C’est à cette période que Newton progresse fortement en [[mathématiques]], [[physique]] et surtout en [[optique]] (il comprend que la [[lumière]] n’est pas blanche mais qu’elle est constituée d’un spectre coloré), toutes les grandes découvertes qu’il explicitera dans les années suivantes découlent de ces deux années. C’est également à cette époque qu’eut lieu l’épisode (très certainement légendaire) de la pomme qui tomba de l’arbre sur sa tête, lui révélant les lois de la gravitation universelle. Newton accélère dans ses recherches, il entame en [[1666]] l’étude des [[Fonction dérivable|fonctions dérivables]] et de leurs dérivées à partir du tracé des tangentes sur la base des travaux de [[Fermat]]. Il classifie les cubiques et en donne des tracés corrects avec asymptotes, inflexions et points de rebroussement. En [[1669]], il rédige un compte-rendu sur les fondements du calcul infinitésimal qu’il appelle « méthode des fluxions ». Newton a alors fondé l’[[analyse moderne]].<br>
+In a 2005 poll of the [[Royal Society]] of who had the greatest effect on the [[history of science]], Newton was deemed more influential than [[Albert Einstein]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Newton beats Einstein in polls of scientists and the public |work=The Royal Society |url=http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news.asp?id=3880 |accessdate=2006-10-25}}</ref>
-En [[1669]] toujours, Newton succède à son maître et reprend sa chaire de mathématiques, en fait Barrow est tellement impressionné par le talent de son élève qu’il démissionne à son profit. Trois ans plus tard, à l’âge de 29 ans, il entre à la [[Royal Society]] de Londres, après avoir réussi l’exploit de mettre au point un [[télescope]] à miroir sphérique dépourvu d’aberration chromatique. L’année d’après, pris la décision de communiquer grandement sur ses travaux sur la lumière, ce qui le rendit célèbre d’un seul coup. Cette célébrité fit de ses découvertes l’objet de nombreuses controverses et querelles dont il avait horreur.<br>
-Il expose ses travaux sur la lumière et prouve qu’elle est constituée d’un spectre de plusieurs couleurs, à l’aide de son [[prisme (optique)|prisme]]. En [[1675]], il complète ses travaux en exposant sa théorie corpusculaire. Après avoir terminé ses travaux en optique, il est contacté en [[1684]] par l’astronome britannique [[Edmund Halley]] (le découvreur de la célèbre comète éponyme) à propos des [[lois de Kepler]] sur les orbites elliptiques des planètes. Newton répond de manière convaincante et Halley le pousse à publier ses travaux.
-En [[1687]], il publie donc son œuvre majeure : ''Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica''. Cette œuvre marque le début de la mathématisation de la physique. Newton y expose le [[principe d’inertie]], la proportionnalité des forces et des accélérations, l’égalité de l’action et de la réaction, les lois du choc, il y étudie le mouvement des fluides, les marées, etc... Mais il expose aussi et surtout sa théorie de l’attraction universelle ! Les corps s’attirent avec une force proportionnelle au produit de leur masse et inversement proportionnelle au carré de la distance qui les sépare.<br>
+==Biography==
-Newton répugne à communiquer ses travaux et les publie souvent plusieurs années après les avoir finalisés. Il s’accroche également souvent avec [[Robert Hooke]] à propos de la lumière et de sa théorie sur la gravitation. Newton attendra même que Hooke meure pour publier ses travaux sur l’optique. Hooke accusa même Newton de l’avoir plagié sur la théorie des inverses carrés, car ce dernier avait commencé ses travaux en parallèle de Hooke et sans rien dire à personne, ce qui rendit Hooke furieux. Newton prétendit alors n’avoir pas eu connaissance des recherches de Hooke et n’avoir pas lu ses travaux sur la gravitation. On sait aujourd’hui que Newton a menti, non pas par culpabilité, mais par son horreur du personnage...
+{{IsaacNewtonSegments|left}}
+===Early years===
+{{Main|Isaac Newton's early life and achievements}}
-Newton était doté d’une personnalité tourmentée et complexe. En [[1692]]-[[1693]], il subit une grave période de dépression nerveuse, probablement due à la mort de sa mère, la destruction de son laboratoire d’alchimie, ou à l’excès de travail... Il subit de grands troubles émotifs et vit alors dans un état de prostration, vivant dans un état de paranoïa, et étant sujet à des hallucinations. Il mit alors trois ans à s’en remettre.
+[[Image:Isaac Newton.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Newton in a 1702 portrait by [[Godfrey Kneller]].]] Isaac Newton was born on [[January 4]], [[1643]] <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[December 25]], [[1642]]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS"/></small> at [[Woolsthorpe Manor]] in [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], a [[Hamlet (place)|hamlet]] in the county of [[Lincolnshire]]. At the time of Newton's birth, England had not adopted the latest papal calendar and therefore his date of birth was recorded as Christmas Day, [[December 25]], [[1642]]. Newton was born three months after the death of his father. Born [[Premature birth|prematurely]], he was a small child; his mother [[Hannah Ayscough]] reportedly said that he could have fit inside a [[quart]] [[mug]]. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabus Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery Ayscough. The young Isaac disliked his stepfather and held some enmity towards his mother for marrying him, as revealed by this entry in a list of sins committed up to the age of 19:  ''Threatening my father and mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.''<ref>Cohen, I.B. (1970). Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 11, p.43. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons</ref>
-En [[1696]], il est nommé gardien de la monnaie de l’Angleterre et maître dès l’année suivante.<br>
+Newton is believed by some researchers to have suffered from [[Asperger's Syndrome]], a form of [[autism]].<ref>''Einstein and Newton 'had autism'', BBC News, 30 April 2003[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2988647.stm]</ref><ref>Muir, Hazel: ''Einstein and Newton showed signs of autism'', NewScientist, 30 April 2003[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3676.html]</ref> Indeed it is believed that like certain other historical geniuses Asperger's may have been the very cause of Newton's intellect.
-Newton estimait que 20% des pièces de monnaie mises en circulation pendant la [[Grande Réforme monétaire]] de [[1696]] étaient contrefaites. La [[contrefaçon]] était considérée comme un acte de [[trahison]], passible de mort par [[écartèlement]]. Aussi horrible que fût ce châtiment, les tribunaux n'obéissaient ni à l'arbitraire ni au caprice. Les droits des hommes libres jouissaient d'une longue tradition en [[Angleterre]] et le ministère public devait apporter ses preuves devant le jury. On avait aussi le droit de plaider coupable. Faire condamner les criminels les plus évidents pouvait se révéler un casse-tête insoluble. Newton fut égal à ce qu'on attendait de lui.
-Il rassembla des faits et prouva ses théories en se montrant aussi brillant que lorsqu'il démontrait scientifiquement ses lois. Entre juin [[1698]] et Noël [[1699]], il conduisit environ 200 contre-[[interrogatoire]]s de témoins, d'informateurs et de suspects et il obtint les aveux dont il avait besoin. Il n'avait pas le droit de recourir à la [[torture]], mais on s'interroge sur les moyens employés puisque Newton lui-même ordonna par la suite la destruction de tous les rapports d'interrogation. Quoi qu'il en soit il réussit et emporta la conviction du jury : en février 1699, dix prisonniers attendaient leur exécution.
+According to [[Eric Temple Bell|E.T. Bell]] and H. Eves:
+<blockquote>Newton began his schooling in the village schools and was later sent to [[The King's School, Grantham]], where he became the top student in the school. At King's, he lodged with the local [[apothecary]], [[William Clarke (apothecary)|William Clarke]] and eventually became engaged to the apothecary's stepdaughter, Anne Storer, before he went off to the [[University of Cambridge]] at the age of 19. As Newton became engrossed in his studies, the romance cooled and Miss Storer married someone else. It is said he kept a warm memory of this love, but Newton had no other recorded "sweet-hearts" and never married.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=E.T. |origyear=1937 |year=1986 |title=Men of Mathematics |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |edition=Touchstone edition |pages=pp. 91–2}}</ref></blockquote>
-Newton obtint son plus grand succès comme [[attorney]] royal contre [[William Chaloner]]. Celui-là était un escroc particulièrement retors qui s'était suffisamment enrichi pour se poser en riche bourgeois. Dans une pétition au Parlement, Chaloner accusa l'Hôtel des Monnaies de fournir des outils aux contrefacteurs, accusation qui n'était pas nouvelle, et il proposa que l'on lui permît d'inspecter les procédés de l'Hôtel des Monnaies pour les améliorer. Dans une pétition, il présenta au Parlement ses plans pour une invention qui empêcherait toute contrefaçon. Pendant tout ce temps, Chaloner profitait de l'occasion pour frapper lui-même de la fausse monnaie, ce que Newton arriva au bout du compte à démontrer devant le tribunal compétent. Le [[23 mars]] [[1699]], Chaloner fut pendu et écartelé.
+There are a rumours that he remained a virgin.<ref>[http://www.ams.org/notices/200311/rev-krantz.pdf Book Review Isaac Newton biography] December 2003</ref> However, Bell and Eves' sources for this claim, William Stukeley and Mrs. Vincent (the former Miss Storer &mdash; actually named Katherine, not Anne), merely say that Newton entertained "a passion" for Storer while he lodged at the Clarke house.
-En [[1699]], il est nommé membre du conseil de la [[Royal Society]] et y est élu président en [[1703]], il gardera cette place jusqu’à sa mort. Auparavant, en [[1701]], il lut lors d’une réunion le seul mémoire de chimie qu’il a fait connaître et présenta sa loi sur le refroidissement par conduction, ainsi que des observations sur les températures d’ébullition et de fusion. Il décide alors de quitter sa chaire lucasienne à l’université de Cambridge.<br>
+From the age of about twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at [[The King's School, Grantham]] (where his signature can still be seen upon a library window sill). He was removed from school, and by October 1659, he was to be found at [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], where his mother, widowed by now for a second time, attempted to make a farmer of him. He was, by later reports of his contemporaries, thoroughly unhappy with the work. It appears to have been Henry Stokes, master at the King's School, who persuaded his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. This he did at the age of eighteen, achieving an admirable final report.
-En 1705, il est anobli par la Royauté.<br>
-En 1717, il analyse les pièces de monnaie et en tire une [[étalon-or#L'Étalon-or moderne|relation or-argent]], cette relation est officialisée par une loi de la [[Anne Ire de Grande-Bretagne|reine Anne]].<!--Vérifier si c'est bien la bonne reine Anne..., qu'elle est cette loi?-->
-Isaac Newton tombe malade en [[1724]]. Trois ans plus tard, il se remet à peine d’une crise de goutte qu’il se rend à [[Londres]] pour présider une réunion de la Royal Society. Ce voyage le fatigue terriblement... De retour à [[Kensington]], il doit rester alité et meurt le [[31 mars]] [[1727]], à l'âge de 84 ans. Son corps fut alors porté en grande pompe et inhumé à [[Westminster]], aux côtés des rois d’Angleterre.
-Newton est considéré comme l’un des plus grands génies et savants de l’histoire humaine. On peut le comparer, par l’envergure de ses travaux et découvertes, à deux autres grands noms de la science : [[Archimède]] et [[Albert Einstein]].
+In June 1661, he was admitted to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. At that time, the college's teachings were based on those of [[Aristotle]], but Newton preferred to read the more advanced ideas of modern philosophers such as [[René Descartes|Descartes]] and [[astronomers]] such as [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus]] and [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]]. In 1665, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his degree in April of 1665, the University closed down as a precaution against the [[Great Plague of London|Great Plague]]. For the next 2 years, Newton worked at his home in Woolsthorpe on [[calculus]], [[optics]] and the [[law of gravitation]].
-==Théories scientifiques==
+===Middle years===
+{{Main|Isaac Newton's middle years}}
+[[Image:Bolton-newton.jpg|thumb|left|Isaac Newton (''Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889'')]]
-Son ouvrage majeur, ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle]]'', fut publié en [[1687]] (traduit en français par la [[Émilie du Châtelet|marquise du Châtelet]] en [[1756]]). Les méthodes de calcul qu'il y utilise en font un précurseur du [[calcul vectoriel]].
+====Mathematics====
+Most modern historians believe that Newton and Leibniz had developed calculus independently, using their own unique notations. According to Newton's inner circle, Newton had worked out his method years before Leibniz, yet he published almost nothing about it until 1693, and did not give a full account until 1704. Meanwhile, Leibniz began publishing a full account of his methods in 1684. Moreover, Leibniz's notation and "differential Method" were universally adopted on the Continent, and after 1820 or so, in the British Empire. Whereas Leibniz's notebooks show the advancement of the ideas from early stages until maturity, there is only the end product in Newton's known notes. Newton claimed that he had been reluctant to publish his calculus because he feared being mocked for it<!-- request citation -->. Newton had a very close relationship with Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, who from the beginning was impressed by Newton's gravitational theory. In 1691 Duillier planned to prepare a new version of Newton's ''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'', but never finished it. Some of Newton's biographers have suggested that the relationship may have been romantic.<ref>[http://www.knittingcircle.org.uk/isaacnewton.html Biography of Isaac Newton] at [http://www.knittingcircle.org.uk www.knittingcircle.org.uk]</ref>  However, in 1694 the relationship between the two men cooled down. At the time, Duillier had also exchanged several letters with Leibniz.
-Dans le domaine de l'[[optique]], il améliore en [[1671]] le [[télescope|télescope à réflexion]] de [[James Gregory (mathématicien)|Gregory]], et il publie en 1704 son traité ''Opticks'' démontrant que la [[lumière]] [[blanc|blanche]] est formée de plusieurs [[couleur|couleurs]].
+Starting in 1699, other members of the [[Royal Society]] (of which Newton was a member) accused Leibniz of plagiarism, and the dispute broke out in full force in 1711. Newton's Royal Society proclaimed in a study that it was Newton who was the true discoverer and labeled Leibniz a fraud. This study was cast into doubt when it was later found that Newton himself wrote the study's concluding remarks on Leibniz. Thus began the bitter [[Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy]], which marred the lives of both Newton and Leibniz until the latter's death in 1716.
-Bien que cet aspect de sa vie soit moins connu, Newton se passionna également pour l'[[alchimie]] et la [[théologie]].<br>
+Newton is generally credited with the [[Binomial theorem#Newton.27s generalized binomial theorem|generalized binomial theorem]], valid for any exponent. He discovered [[Newton's identities]], [[Newton's method]], classified cubic plane curves (polynomials of degree three in two variables), made substantial contributions to the theory of [[finite differences]], and was the first to use fractional indices and to employ coordinate geometry to derive solutions to [[Diophantine equations]]. He approximated partial sums of the harmonic series by logarithms (a precursor to [[Euler's summation formula]]), and was the first to use power series with confidence and to revert power series. He also discovered a new formula for calculating [[pi]].
-: « L'[[Espace (notion)|espace]] est de durée éternelle et de nature immuable, et ce parce qu'il est l'effet émanant d'un [[être]] éternel et immuable. Si jamais l'[[Espace (notion)|espace]] n'avait pas existé, [[Dieu]], à ce moment-là, n'aurait été présent nulle part… Si nous disons avec [[René Descartes|Descartes]] que l'étendue est le corps, ne frayons-nous pas manifestement la voie à l'[[athéisme]] ? tant parce qu'alors l'étendue n'est pas une créature mais est de toute [[éternité]], que parce que nous en avons une idée absolue sans rapport à [[Dieu]], et qu'ainsi nous pouvons concevoir que l'étendue existe, tout en imaginant que Dieu n'existe pas ? » (''De Gravitatione'').
-Il est aussi réputé avoir passé une quinzaine d'années à calculer, à partir des [[Bible|écrits bibliques]], la date de la [[fin du monde]], laquelle est désormais dépassée.
+He was elected [[Lucasian Professor of Mathematics]] in 1669. In that day, any fellow of Cambridge or [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] had to be an ordained Anglican priest. However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder ''not'' be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted.
-En [[mécanique]], la plupart de ses principes, déjà mis à mal par le développement de la [[thermodynamique]] au {{XIXe siècle}}, ont été balayés par la [[relativité]] d'Einstein et la [[dualité onde-corpuscule]]. Cependant le génie de sa mécanique relationnelle était de simplifier beaucoup, ce qui contribua au développement des recherches dans le domaine de la mécanique simple, où la [[masse]] s'identifie à la matière et où l'on suppose une continuité parfaite.
+==== Optics ====
-===Lois de Newton===
+From 1670 to 1672, Newton lectured on optics. During this period he investigated the [[refraction]] of light, demonstrating that a [[Triangular prism (optics)|prism]] could decompose [[White|white light]] into a [[optical spectrum|spectrum]] of colours, and that a [[Lens (optics)|lens]] and a second prism could recompose the multicoloured spectrum into white light.
-{{détail|Lois du mouvement de Newton}}
+[[Image:NewtonsTelescopeReplica.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A replica of Newton's 6-inch reflecting telescope of 1672 for the [[Royal Society]].]]
-[[Image:Trinity Isaac.JPG|thumb|Statue d'Isaac Newton à Trinity College, [[Cambridge]].]]
+He also showed that the coloured light does not change its properties, by separating out a coloured beam and shining it on various objects.  Newton noted that regardless of whether it was reflected or scattered or transmitted, it stayed the same colour. Thus the colours we observe are the result of how objects interact with the incident ''already-coloured'' light, '''not''' the result of objects ''generating'' the colour. For more details, see [[Isaac Newton's early life and achievements#Newton's theory of colour|Newton's theory of colour]].
-Isaac Newton est avant tout le père de la mécanique moderne grâce aux trois lois qui portent son nom et dont on donne ci-après les énoncés tels qu'ils sont enseignés de nos jours :
-====Principe d'inertie====
+From this work he concluded that any refracting [[telescope]] would suffer from the [[dispersion (optics)|dispersion]] of light into colours, and invented a reflecting telescope (today known as a [[Newtonian telescope]]) to bypass that problem. By grinding his own mirrors, using [[Newton's rings]] to judge the [[quality]] of the optics for his telescopes, he was able to produce a superior instrument to the refracting telescope, due primarily to the wider diameter of the mirror. In 1671 the Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope. Their interest encouraged him to publish his notes ''On Colour'', which he later expanded into his ''Opticks''. When [[Robert Hooke]] criticised some of Newton's ideas, Newton was so offended that he withdrew from public debate. The two men remained enemies until Hooke's death.
-Dans un référentiel [[Référentiel galiléen|galiléen]], le [[centre d'inertie]] d'un corps (ou «&thinsp;objet&thinsp;») persiste dans son état de repos ou de mouvement rectiligne uniforme tant que la somme des [[Force (physique)|forces]] extérieures qui s'appliquent sur lui est nulle.
+Newton argued that light is composed of particles or ''corpuscles'' and were refracted by accelerating toward the denser medium, but he had to associate them with [[wave]]s to explain the [[diffraction]] of light (''Opticks'' Bk. II, Props. XII-L). Later physicists instead favoured a purely wavelike explanation of light to account for diffraction. Today's [[quantum mechanics]], [[photons]] and the idea of [[wave-particle duality]] bear only a minor resemblance to Newton's understanding of light.
-Notons que cette loi a précédemment été découverte par [[Ibn al-Haytham ]] dit Alhazen (Bassorah 965 - Le Caire 1039) sept siècle auparavant.
+In his ''Hypothesis of Light'' of 1675, Newton [[wikt:posit|posit]]ed the existence of the [[luminiferous aether|ether]] to transmit forces between particles. The contact with the [[theosophist]] [[Henry More]], revived his interest in alchemy. He replaced the ether with occult forces based on [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] ideas of attraction and repulsion between particles. [[John Maynard Keynes]], who acquired many of Newton's writings on alchemy, stated that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."<ref>{{cite book |last=Keynes |first=John Maynard |year=1972 |chapter="Newton, The Man" |title=The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes Volume X |publisher=MacMillan St. Martin's Press |pages=pp. 363–4}}</ref> Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his contributions to science.<ref>{{cite book |last=Westfall |first=Richard S. |origyear=1980 |year=1983 |title="Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=pp. 530–1}} notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches.</ref> (This was at a time when there was no clear distinction between alchemy and science.) Had he not relied on the [[occult]] idea of [[action at a distance (physics)|action at a distance]], across a vacuum, he might not have developed his theory of gravity. (See also [[Isaac Newton's occult studies]].)
-====Principe fondamental de la dynamique ====
-L'application d'une force <sup><math>\vec F</math></sup> sur un objet, modifie la [[vitesse]] de ce dernier. L'[[accélération]] résultante <sup><math>\vec a</math></sup> a la même direction et le même sens que la force appliquée, est proportionnelle à celle-ci et inversement proportionnelle à la [[masse]] <big>'''''m'''''</big> de l'objet.
+In 1704 Newton wrote ''[[Opticks]]'', in which he expounded his corpuscular theory of light. He considered light to be made up of extremely subtle corpuscles, that ordinary matter was made of grosser corpuscles and speculated that through a kind of alchemical transmutation "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another, ...and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dobbs |first=J.T. |year=1982 |month=December |title=Newton's Alchemy and His Theory of Matter |journal=Isis |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=p. 523}} quoting ''Opticks''</ref>  Newton also constructed a primitive form of a frictional [[electrostatic generator]], using a [[glass]] globe (Optics, 8th Query).
-Ce qui peut être résumé dans la relation <sup><math> \vec F= m \, \vec a</math></sup>. Pour un nombre p de forces s'appliquant sur l'objet, la formule se généralise à
-<sup><math>\sum_{k=1}^p \vec F_k= m \, \vec a</math></sup>
-====Principe des actions réciproques====
+====Mechanics and gravitation====
-Si un corps <big>'''A'''</big> applique une force <sup><math>\vec F_{A/B}</math></sup> sur le corps <big>'''B'''</big>, alors, le corps <big>'''B'''</big> applique sur le corps <big>'''A'''</big> une force  <sup><math>\vec F_{B/A}</math></sup> de même direction (celle de la droite <big>('''AB''')</big> ) de même intensité et de sens opposé à <sup><math>\vec F_{A/B}</math></sup>.
+[[Image:NewtonsPrincipia.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Newton's own copy of his Principia, with hand-written corrections for the second edition.]]
+{{further|[[The writing of Principia Mathematica]]}}
-La relation entre ces 2 forces est donc <sup><math> \vec F_{A/B} = - \vec F_{B/A} </math></sup>.
+In 1677, Newton returned to his work on mechanics, i.e., gravitation and its effect on the orbits of [[planet]]s, with reference to Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and consulting with Hooke and [[John Flamsteed|Flamsteed]] on the subject. He published his results in ''De Motu Corporum'' (1684). This contained the beginnings of the laws of motion that would inform the ''Principia''.
-On appelle parfois cette dernière loi la ''loi d'action-réaction'' mais ce vocabulaire est susceptible de prêter à confusion. Voir [[Lois du mouvement de Newton#Troisième loi de Newton ou principe des actions réciproques|principe des actions réciproques]].
+The ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' (now known as the ''Principia'') was published on 5 July 1687 with encouragement and financial help from [[Edmond Halley]]. In this work Newton stated the [[Isaac Newton#Newton's laws of motion|three universal laws of motion]] that were not to be improved upon for more than two hundred years. He used the Latin word ''gravitas'' (weight) for the force that would become known as [[gravity]], and defined the law of [[universal gravitation]]. In the same work he presented the first analytical determination, based on [[Boyle's law]], of the speed of sound in air.
-== Newton alchimiste ==
+With the ''Principia'', Newton became internationally recognised. He acquired a circle of admirers, including the [[Switzerland|Swiss]]-born mathematician [[Nicolas Fatio de Duillier]], with whom he formed an intense relationship that lasted until 1693. The end of this friendship led Newton to a [[nervous breakdown]].
-La communauté scientifique a généralement passé sous silence que les modèles astronomiques entrepris par Newton cherchaient à s’inscrire dans la tradition alchimique <ref> « Il lui faut donc trouver la clé permettant de traduire les textes énigmatiques des expérimentateurs hermétistes en termes de processus naturels susceptibles de vérifications en laboratoire. Il retient les opinions de 19 ‘autorités’ : Morenius, Hermès, Thomas d’Aquin, Roger Bacon […] Confiant en ce que l’alchimie des anciens recèle la vérité qu’il recherche, il établit une liste de prépositions construites à partir de citations empruntées au Theatrum Chymicum […] Il rédige un second essai sur le même thème, il y affirme : ‘Toutes choses sont corruptibles, toutes choses peuvent être engendrées, seule la nature travaille sur des substances humides, et avec une chaleur douce …’ (Dibner collection, Smithsosian inst. Lib., Washington MS 16, f.25) » J.P. Auffray, Newton ou le triomphe de l’alchimie, éd. le pommier, 2000, p97 & 98</ref>. Pour cela, il se basera sur une abondante bibliographie, dont les ouvrages suivants<ref>ibid, p66 à 113</ref> :
+===Later life===
+{{details|Isaac Newton's later life}}
+[[Image:Newton 25.jpg|thumb|left|Isaac Newton in 1712. Portrait by [[Sir James Thornhill]].]]
-*	Aristote, de la génération et de la corruption
+In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of [[religious tracts]] dealing with the literal interpretation of the [[Bible]]. [[Henry More]]'s belief in the universe and rejection of [[Cartesian dualism]] may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. A manuscript he sent to [[John Locke]] in which he disputed the existence of the [[Trinity]] was never published. Later works — ''The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended'' (1728) and ''Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John'' (1733) — were published after his death. He also devoted a great deal of time to alchemy (see above).<!--old cite was (Westfall 1980, pp. 530-1) "notes that Newton apparently abandoned his alchemical researches"-->
-*	Théatrum Chymicum, dont Zosime, Jâbir ibn Hâyyn, Geber
-*	Philalethe, l’entrée ouverte au palais du roi
-*	Michel maier, Artifex Chymicus
-*	Valentin, le char triomphal de l’antimoine
-*	Sendivogius, dit le Cosmopolite, la nouvelle lumière chymique
-*	D’Espagnet, Arnacum hermeticum
-Il établit une synthèse qui, appliquée à l’astronomie, lui fait tirer les conclusion suivantes : « La meilleure eau est attirée par le pouvoir de notre Soufre qui gît caché dans l’antimoine. Car l’antimoine était dénommé Ariès par les anciens. Parce que Ariès est le premier signe du zodiaque dans lequel le soleil commence à être exalté et que l’or est surtout exalté dans l’antimoine […] L’air engendre le Chalybs ou aimant, et cela fait apparaître l’air. Ainsi le père de celui-ci est le soleil (l’or) et sa mère la lune (l’argent). C’est ce que porte le vent dans son ventre » <ref>I. Newton, collectiones ex novo lumine chymico quae ad praxin spectant et collectionum explicationes, Keynes MS 55, ff. v-12r, cité par Auffray, ibid, p88 & 89</ref>. Plus tard, il pense avoir découvert le mercure philosophique et donne la modalité précise de l’opération<ref> Dans Keynes MS 18, f 2r, détails cités par Auffray, ibid p112 & 113</ref>
+Newton was also a member of the [[Parliament of England]] from 1689 to 1690 and in 1701, but his only recorded comments were to complain about a cold draft in the chamber and request that the window be closed.
-Le monde universitaire, hostile à ses premières tentatives de publication, l’oblige à s’enfermer dans un profond mutisme <ref> "Bientôt la querelle s’envenime et gagne le continent. Échaudé par sa sortie publique prématurée, Newton réapprend à se taire" Ibid, p104</ref>. Il va s’introduire alors dans un réseau souterrain « qui permet aux adeptes de Cambridge de mieux communiquer entre eux » <ref> ibid, p92</ref>, apprend l’art de l’anagramme et se pourvoit du pseudonyme de ‘Ieoua Sanctus Unus’ qui signifie en français : "Jéhovah Unique Saint" , mais qui est aussi une anagramme de‘Isaac Neuutonus’.
+Newton moved to [[London]] to take up the post of warden of the [[Royal Mint]] in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of [[Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax]], then [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]. He took charge of England's great recoining, somewhat treading on the toes of Master Lucas (and securing the job of deputy [[comptroller]] of the temporary Chester branch for Edmond Halley). Newton became perhaps the best-known [[Master of the Mint]] upon Lucas' death in 1699, a position Newton held until his death.  These appointments were intended as [[sinecure]]s, but Newton took them seriously, retiring from his Cambridge duties in 1701, and exercising his power to reform the currency and punish [[debasement|clippers]] and counterfeiters. As Master of the Mint in [[1717]] Newton unofficially moved the [[Pound Sterling]] from the [[silver standard]] to the [[gold standard]] by creating a relationship between gold coins and the silver penny in the [[Anne of Great Britain|"Law of Queen Anne"]]; these were all great reforms at the time, adding considerably to the wealth and stability of England.  It was his work at the Mint, rather than his earlier contributions to science, that earned him a [[knighthood]] from Queen Anne in 1705.
+[[Image:Isaac Newton grave in Westminster Abbey.jpg|thumb|Newton's grave in Westminster Abbey]]
+Newton was made President of the [[Royal Society]] in 1703 and an associate of the French [[French Academy of Sciences|Académie des Sciences]]. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the [[Astronomer Royal]], by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's star catalogue, which Newton had used in his studies.
-Il finira par atteindre son but. Il fonde « l’hypothèse 3 » : « Tout corps peut être transformé en n’importe quel autre corps, et prendre successivement tous les degrés de qualités » <ref> "Cet énoncé, entièrement fondé sur l’alchimie, établit la justification dont il a besoin pour s’engager sur la voie royale de la gravitation universelle […] Newton a volontairement rendu le texte des principia obscur, tout au moins celui du livre III. Il en donne lui-même la raison : ‘j’abhorre les discussions, pour éviter d’être harcelé par de petits mathématiciens, j’ai rendu les principia délibérément abstrus’ " ibid, p192 & 195, avec une note sur l’hypothèse 3 : « Newton a retiré l’hypothèse 3 des éditions suivantes des principia », ibid p197</ref>
+Newton died in London on [[March 31]], [[1727]] <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[March 20]], [[1727]]<nowiki>]</nowiki><ref name="OSNS"/></small>, and was buried in [[Westminster Abbey]]. His half-niece, [[Catherine Barton Conduitt]],<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 44.</ref> served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on [[Jermyn Street]] in London; he was her "very loving Uncle,"<ref>Westfall 1980, p. 595</ref> according to his letter to her when she was recovering from [[smallpox]].  Although Newton, who had no children, had divested much of his estate onto relatives in his last years he actually died [[Intestacy|intestate]].
+After his death, Newton's body was discovered to have had massive amounts of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] in it, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. [[Mercury poisoning]] could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Newton.html |title=Newton, Isaac (1642-1727) |work=Eric Weisstein's World of Biography |accessdate=2006-08-30}}</ref>
-==À noter==
+==Religious views==
+{{main|Isaac Newton's religious views}}
-Isaac Newton a donné son nom :
+Although the laws of motion and universal gravitation became Newton's best-known discoveries, he warned against using them to view the universe as a mere machine, as if akin to a great clock. He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."<ref name="tiner">{{cite book |last=Tiner |first=J.H. |year=1975 |title=Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist and Teacher |publisher=Mott Media |location=Milford, Michigan, U.S.}}</ref>
-* en [[physique]] :
-** à l'[[unité de mesure|unité]] de [[Force (physique)|force]] du [[système international]] (SI), le [[Newton (unité)|newton]], symbole '''N''', défini comme la force qui communique une accélération de 1 [[mètre|m]]/[[seconde (temps)|s]]² à un corps dont la masse est égale à 1 [[kilogramme|kg]].
-** à l'''expérience du [[tube de Newton]]'', destinée à montrer que des objets de [[masse volumique|masses volumiques]] différentes ont la même [[vitesse]] de chute dans le [[vide]].
-* en [[mathématiques]] :
-**au [[binôme de Newton]], formule donnant le développement en [[Série (mathématiques)|série]] de <math>(a + b)^n</math> pour ''n'' [[Nombre entier|entier]] positif, quoique son apport original concerne plutôt le développement en série de <math>(1+x)^\alpha</math> où l'exposant est un [[Nombre réel|réel]] positif quelconque ([[binôme généralisé|série binomiale]]).
-**à la [[méthode de Newton|méthode de Newton-Raphson]] en [[analyse numérique]], utilisée pour calculer la valeur approchée d'une solution d'une équation.
-**à la [[Formules de Newton-Cotes|méthode de Newton-Cotes]] en analyse numérique, qui étend de manière générale la [[méthode des trapèzes]] et la [[méthode de Simpson]] pour le calcul des intégrales.
-**au [[polygone de Newton]], utilisé pour trouver les termes de développements de [[Fonction algébrique|fonctions algébriques]], quoique la méthode soit essentiellement due à [[séries de Puiseux|Puiseux]].
-**à la [[interpolation newtonienne|formule d'interpolation de Newton]], semblable à la [[interpolation lagrangienne|formule d'interpolation de Lagrange]] mais écrite avec des [[différences divisées]].
-**au [[noyau newtonien]], qui est à la base de la théorie mathématique unifiant la gravitation newtonienne et l'[[électrostatique]] de [[Charles de Coulomb|Coulomb]].
-**à la [[théorie du potentiel newtonien]], nom donné par [[Carl Friedrich Gauss|Gauss]] à la théorie évoquée ci-dessus, et qu'on appelle aussi ''théorie classique du potentiel''.
-* en [[optique]], aux ''[[anneaux de Newton]]'', dus au phénomène d'[[interférence]].
-* en [[astronomie]], aux [[astéroïde]]s [[(662) Newtonia]] et [[(8000) Isaac Newton]].
-* en [[astronomie]], au [[télescope de type Newton]].
-*Newton donnera aussi son nom au concept de "[[newtonianisme]]", principe d'une règle unique gérant tous les phénomènes, qui admet des forces immanentes à la matière, contre le cartésianisme qui expliquait tout par le mécanisme, (les tourbillons pour les mouvements des corps célestes.)
-Les théories de Newton ne manquèrent pas d'être le sujet de [[controverse scientifique|controverses et de polémiques scientifiques]] durant le {{XVIIIe siècle}}. À partir de [[1734]], les partisans du système de Newton furent nommés les ''newtoniens'', par opposition aux ''cartésiens''.
+His scientific fame notwithstanding, Newton's studies of the Bible and of the early [[Church Fathers]] were also noteworthy.  Newton wrote works on [[textual criticism]], most notably ''[[An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture]]''. He also placed the crucifixion of [[Jesus Christ]] at [[3 April]], AD 33, which agrees with one traditionally accepted date.<ref>John P. Meier, ''[[John P. Meier#A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus|A Marginal Jew]]'', v. 1, pp. 382–402 after narrowing the years to 30 or 33, provisionally judges 30 most likely.</ref> He also attempted, unsuccessfully, to find hidden messages within the Bible (see ''[[Bible code]]'').
-== Anecdotes ==
+Newton may have rejected the church's doctrine of the Trinity. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argues that he more likely held the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] view of the Trinity rather than the Western one held by [[Roman Catholic]]s, [[Anglican]]s, and most [[Protestant]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pfizenmaier |first=T.C. |year=1997 |title=Was Isaac Newton an Arian? |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=pp. 57–80}}</ref> In his own day, he was also accused of being a [[Rosicrucianism|Rosicrucian]] (as were many in the Royal Society and in the court of Charles II).<ref>{{cite book |last=Yates |first=Frances A. |year=1972 |title=The Rosicrucian Enlightenment |publisher=Routledge |location=London}}</ref>
-* Newton était un grand [[alchimiste]]. Mais les documents le montrant ont été dissimulés par sa famille, craignant que cela nuise à sa renommée future. <ref>''Newton ou le triomphe de l'alchimie'' par Jean-Paul Auffray, Le Pommier éditeur, avril 2000 </ref>
-* {{référence nécessaire|Newton est souvent présenté comme un fervent [[végétarien]], toutefois rien ne permet d'appuyer cette hypothèse sinon des prescriptions d'ordre médical vers la fin de sa vie qui lui recommandaient de manger des plats légers.}}
-* Newton est connu pour avoir établi la loi de la gravitation universelle, mais il faut préciser que des doutes subsistent sur ce fait. En effet, Newton travailla longtemps avec [[Robert Hooke]], et l'aurait « écarté » de façon à s'approprier cette découverte. Cette découverte a nui à l'activité scientifique de Hooke.
-== Newton dans la littérature et les arts ==
+In his own lifetime, Newton wrote more on religion than he did on natural science. He believed in a rationally immanent world, but he rejected the [[hylozoism]] implicit in Leibniz and [[Baruch Spinoza]]. Thus, the ordered and dynamically informed [[universe]] could be understood, and must be understood, by an active reason, but this universe, to be perfect and ordained, had to be regular.
-* Isaac Newton est un des héros de la ''[[Rubrique-à-brac]]'', [[bande dessinée]] de [[Gotlib]]. Il y apparaît dans un gag récurrent dans lequel la légende selon laquelle il découvrit la théorie de la [[gravitation universelle]] frappé d'une pomme lui tombant sur la tête est parodiée de diverses façons.
+===Newton's effect on religious thought===
-* Isaac Newton apparait dans l'anime [[Vision d'Escaflowne]]. C'est un personnage qui va apporter à ce monde extraterrestre fictif plus de modernité<ref>ce monde fictif est un monde médiéval</ref>, et cela dans plusieurs domaines. Cela dit, ces apports y ont généralement une application militaire et utilisent des technologies souvent dépourvues de liens avec les travaux de ce savant (exemples : constructions de [[Mecha|mechas]] (sorte de robots géants), usage de la [[transgenèse]] (pour améliorer de taux de chance des guerriers)<ref>cet aspect de cette histoire repose sur la théorie selon laquelle la chance fait partie des informations contenues dans l'ADN</ref>, etc...)
+[[Image:Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg|thumb|left|"Newton," by [[William Blake]]; here, Newton is depicted as a "divine geometer"]]
+Newton and [[Robert Boyle]]’s mechanical philosophy was promoted by [[rationalist]] [[pamphleteer]]s as a viable alternative to the [[pantheism|pantheists]] and [[enthusiasm|enthusiasts]], and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the [[latitudinarian]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacob |first=Margaret C. |year=1976 |title=The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689–1720 |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=pp. 37,44}}</ref> Thus, the clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] superlatives of both [[superstition|superstitious]] enthusiasm and the threat of [[atheism]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Westfall |first=Richard S. |year=1958 |title=Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |pages=p. 200}}</ref> and, at the same time, the second wave of English [[deism|deists]] used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion."
-== Œuvres ==
+The attacks made against pre-[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] "magical thinking," and the [[Christian mysticism|mystical elements of Christianity]], were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through [[mathematical proof]]s and, perhaps more importantly, was very successful in popularising them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haakonssen |first=Knud |editor=Martin Fitzpatrick ed. |chapter=The Enlightenment, politics and providence: some Scottish and English comparisons |title=Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=p. 64}}</ref> Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frankel |first=Charles |year=1948 |title=The Faith of Reason: The Idea of Progress in the French Enlightenment |publisher=King's Crown Press |location=New York |pages=p. 1}}</ref> These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed people to pursue their own aims fruitfully in this life, not [[afterlife|the next]], and to perfect themselves with their own rational powers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Germain |first=Gilbert G. |title= A Discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Politics and Technology |pages=p. 28}}</ref>
-{{...}}
-* [[Référence:Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Isaac Newton)|''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'']], Londres, [[1687]], 2{{e}} éd. [[1713]], 3{{e}} éd. [[1726]]
-* Newton (Isaac), ''Isaac Newton's Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica'' / assembled and ed. by Alexandre Koyré and Isaac Bernard Cohen, with the assistance of Anne Whitman.
-** Volume 1, Text. Cambridge [USA] : Harvard University Press, 1972. xl-547p. ISBN 0-674-66475-2.
-** Volume 2, ''Introduction to Newton's Principia''. Cambridge [USA] : Harvard University Press, 1971 ; rééd. 1978. ISBN 0-674-46193-2.
-** Newton (Isaac), ''De la gravitation'', Gallimard, Paris, 1995, 261p, ISBN 2-07-072560-X
-** Newton (Isaac), ''Écrits sur la religion'', Gallimard, Paris, 1996, 263p, ISBN 2-07-073814-0
-** Newton (Isaac), ''Optique'', Christian Bourgois éditeur, Paris, 1989
-== Études sur la personne et l'œuvre ==
+Newton saw God as the master creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.<ref>Principia, Book III; cited in; Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings, p. 42, ed. H.S. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, NY, 1953.</ref><ref>A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ibid, p. 65.</ref><ref>Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. “The emergence of Rational Dissent.” Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p19.</ref> But the unforeseen [[Christian theology|theological]] consequence of his conception of God, as Leibniz pointed out, was that God was now entirely removed from the world’s affairs, since the need for intervention would only evidence some imperfection in God’s creation, something impossible for a perfect and [[omnipotent]] creator.<ref> Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. p201.</ref> Leibniz's [[theodicy]] cleared God from the responsibility for ''"[[Problem of evil|l'origine du mal]]"'' by making God removed from participation in his creation. The understanding of the world was now brought down to the level of simple human reason, and humans, as Odo Marquard argued, became responsible for the correction and elimination of evil.<ref>Marquard, Odo. "Burdened and Disemburdened Man and the Flight into Unindictability," in Farewell to Matters of Principle. Robert M. Wallace trans. London: Oxford UP, 1989.</ref>
-* [[James Gleick]], ''Isaac Newton : un destin fabuleux'' ; traduit de l'américain par Christian Jeanmougin, préface de Trinh Xuan Thuan. [[Paris]] : Dunod, coll. « Quai des sciences », [[2005]]. XX-294 p., 24 cm. ISBN 2-10-048739-6. Titre original : ''Isaac Newton''.
-* Westfall (Richard S.), ''Newton. 1642-1727'' ; trad. Anne-Marie Lescourret. Paris, Flammarion, 1994. (Figures de la science). ISBN 2-08-211199-7.
-* Koyré (Alexandre), ''Études newtoniennes''. Paris, Gallimard, 1991. (Bibliothèque des idées). 353p. ISBN 2-07-027142-0.
-==Voir aussi==
+On the other hand, latitudinarian and Newtonian ideas taken too far resulted in the [[millenarian]]s, a religious faction dedicated to the concept of a mechanical universe, but finding in it the same enthusiasm and mysticism that the Enlightenment had fought so hard to extinguish.<ref>Jacob, Margaret C. The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689–1720. p100–101.</ref>
-{{Commons|Isaac Newton|Isaac Newton}}
-===Articles connexes===
-* [[Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon]], fonda sa doctrine philosophique sur la [[loi universelle de la gravitation]], dont il pensait qu'elle pourrait remplacer [[Dieu]] (''lettre d'un habitant de Genève à ses contemporains'', [[1803]]).
-* [[Révolution copernicienne]]
-* [[Mathématiques en Europe au XVIIe siècle]]
-* [[étalon-or#L'Étalon-or moderne|L'étalon-or moderne]]
-===Liens externes===
+===Views of the end of the world===
-* {{fr}} [http://www.astrofiles.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=21 Biographie]
+{{see also|Isaac Newton's occult studies}}
-* {{fr}} [http://pages.infinit.net/marct/newton.htm Autre biographie]
+{{see also|Eschatology}}
-* {{fr}} [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-29037 ''Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle'', tome I] et [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-29038 tome II], sur [[Gallica]], trad. française de la [[Émilie du Châtelet|Marquise du Châtelet]]
+In a manuscript he wrote in 1704 in which he describes his attempts to extract scientific information from the Bible, he estimated that the world would end no earlier than 2060. In predicting this he said, "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."<ref>{{cite web | title = Papers Show Isaac Newton's Religious Side, Predict Date of Apocalypse | publisher = The Associated Press | date=19 June 2007 | url = http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070619/28049_Papers_Show_Isaac_Newton%27s_Religious_Side%2C_Predict_Date_of_Apocalypse.htm| accessdate=2007-08-01}}</ref>
-* {{la}} [http://num-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr:8080/view/authors/Newton,_Isaac.html Ouvrage de Newton numérisé] par le SCD de l'[[Université Louis Pasteur]] de Strasbourg
-* {{fr}} [http://www.dma.ens.fr/culturemath/video/html/Panza.htm Isaac Newton mathématicien : les années de formation et les premiers écrits]
-== Notes ==
+==Newton and the counterfeiters==
-<References/>
+As warden of the [[Royal Mint]], Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The [[Royal Mint|Great Recoinage]] were [[counterfeit]]. Counterfeiting was [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]], punishable by being [[hanged, drawn and quartered]]. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task.
-{{multi bandeau|portail physique|portail astronomie|portail cosmologie}}
+He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, [[English law]] still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a [[justice of the peace]] and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed.
-[[Catégorie:Isaac Newton| ]]
+Possibly Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against William Chaloner. One of Chaloner's schemes was to set up phony conspiracies of [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholics]] and then turn in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton was outraged, and went about the work to uncover anything about Chaloner. During his studies, he found that Chaloner was engaged in counterfeiting. He immediately put Chaloner on trial, but Mr Chaloner had friends in high places, and to Newton's horror, Chaloner walked free. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered on [[23 March]] [[1699]] at [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn gallows]].<ref>Westfall 1980, pp. 571–5</ref>
-[[Catégorie:Alchimiste|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Astronome anglais|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Mathématicien anglais|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Physicien anglais|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Cosmologiste|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Personnalité de l'optique|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Ancien étudiant de Trinity College (Cambridge)]]
-[[Catégorie:Membre de la Royal Society|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Président de la Royal Society|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Histoire de la physique|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Naissance en 1643|Newton, Isaac]]
-[[Catégorie:Décès en 1727|Newton, Isaac]]
-{{Lien AdQ|bg}}
+==Enlightenment philosophers==
-{{Lien AdQ|en}}
+[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] philosophers chose a short history of scientific predecessors—Galileo, Boyle, and Newton principally—as the guides and guarantors of their applications of the singular concept of [[Nature]] and [[Natural law|Natural Law]] to every physical and social field of the day. In this respect, the lessons of history and the social structures built upon it could be discarded.<ref>Cassels, Alan. Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World. p2.</ref>
-{{Lien AdQ|es}}
-{{Lien AdQ|it}}
+It was Newton’s conception of the universe based upon Natural and rationally understandable laws that became the seed for Enlightenment [[ideology]]. Locke and [[Voltaire]] applied concepts of Natural Law to political systems advocating intrinsic rights; the [[physiocrat]]s and [[Adam Smith]] applied Natural conceptions of [[psychology]] and self-interest to economic systems and the [[sociology|sociologists]] criticised the current [[social order]] for trying to fit history into Natural models of [[progress (philosophy)|progress]].  [[Monboddo]] and [[Samuel Clarke]] resisted elements of Newton's work, but eventually rationalised it to conform with their strong religious views of nature.
-{{Lien AdQ|vi}}
+==Newton's laws of motion==
+{{main|Newton's laws of motion}}
+The famous three laws of motion:
+# ''Newton's First Law'' (also known as the Law of [[Inertia]]) states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and that an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force.
+# ''Newton's Second Law'' states that an applied force, <math> F </math>, on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum, <math> p </math>. Mathematically, this is written as <math> \vec F = \frac{d\vec p}{dt} \, = \, \frac{d}{dt} (m \vec v) \, = \, \vec v \, \frac{dm}{dt} + m \, \frac{d\vec v}{dt} \,.</math>   Assuming the mass to be constant, the first term vanishes. Defining the acceleration to be <math>\vec a \ =\  d\vec v/dt </math> results in the famous equation <math> \vec F = m \, \vec a \,</math> which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to its mass. In the MKS system of measurement, mass is given in [[kilograms]], acceleration in metres per second squared, and force in [[newton]]s (named in his honour).
+# ''Newton's Third Law'' states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
+==Newton's apple==
+[[Image:Newton's tree, Botanic Gardens, Cambridge.JPG|thumb|right|A reputed descendant of Newton's apple tree, found in the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge.]]
+{{cquote| When Newton saw an apple fall, he found <br />
+In that slight startle from his contemplation — <br />
+'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground <br />
+For any sage's creed or calculation) — <br />
+A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round <br />
+In a most natural whirl, called "[[gravitation]];" <br />
+And this is the sole mortal who could grapple, <br />
+Since [[Adam]], with a fall or with an apple.<ref>[[Don Juan]] (1821), Canto 10, Verse I. In Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Lord Byron: The Complete Poetical Works (1986), Vol. 5, 437</ref>}}
+A popular story claims that Newton was inspired to formulate his theory of universal gravitation by the fall of an apple from a tree.  Cartoons have gone further to suggest the apple actually hit Newton's head, and that its impact somehow made him aware of the force of gravity.  John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the Royal Mint and husband of Newton's niece, described the event when he wrote about Newton's life:
+{{cquote|In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge to his mother in Lincolnshire. Whilst he was pensively meandering in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from a tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought. Why not as high as the Moon said he to himself & if so, that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a calculating what would be the effect of that supposition.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/texts/viewtext.php?id=THEM00167&mode=diplomatic |last=Conduitt|first=John |title=Keynes Ms. 130.4:Conduitt's account of Newton's life at Cambridge|work=Newtonproject| accessdate=2006-08-30}}</ref>}}
+The question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended so far from Earth that it could also be the force holding the moon to its orbit. Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement. He guessed the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation".
+A contemporary writer, [[William Stukeley]], recorded in his ''Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life'' a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726, in which Newton recalled "when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre." In similar terms, Voltaire wrote in his ''Essay on Epic Poetry'' (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." These accounts are probably exaggerations of Newton's own tale about sitting by a window in his home ([[Woolsthorpe Manor]]) and watching an apple fall from a tree.
+Various trees are claimed to be "the" apple tree which Newton describes. The King's School, Grantham, claims that the tree was purchased by the school, uprooted and transported to the headmaster's garden some years later, the staff of the [now] [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]-owned Woolsthorpe Manor dispute this, and claim that a tree present in their gardens is the one described by Newton. A descendant of the original tree can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there. The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale<ref>http://www.brogdale.org.uk/nfc_home.php</ref> can supply grafts from their tree (ref 1948-729), which appears identical to [[Flower of Kent]], a coarse-fleshed cooking variety.
+==Writings by Newton==
+* ''[[Method of Fluxions]]'' (1671)
+*''Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation'' (1671–75) unpublished work on alchemy<ref>[http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/index.jsp Newton's alchemical works] transcribed and online at [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana University]] retrieved [[January 11]], [[2007]]</ref>
+* ''[[De Motu Corporum in Gyrum]]'' (1684)
+* ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' (1687)
+* ''[[Opticks]]'' (1704)
+* ''[http://www.pierre-marteau.com/editions/1701-25-mint-reports.html Reports as Master of the Mint]'' (1701–25)
+* ''[[Arithmetica Universalis]]'' (1707)
+* ''Short Chronicle'', ''The System of the World'', ''Optical Lectures'', ''The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended'' and ''De mundi systemate'' were published posthumously in 1728.
+* ''[[An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture]]'' (1754)
+==Fame==
+French mathematician [[Joseph Louis Lagrange|Joseph-Louis Lagrange]] often said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived, and once added that he was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish."<ref>Fred L. Wilson, ''History of Science: Newton'' citing: Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J. L. Lagrange," ''Oeuvres de Lagrange'' I. Paris, 1867, p. xx.</ref> English poet [[Alexander Pope]] was moved by Newton's accomplishments to write the famous [[epitaph]]:
+{{cquote|Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;<br />
+God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.}}
+Newton himself was rather more modest of his own achievements, famously writing in a letter to [[Robert Hooke]] in February 1676
+{{cquote|If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants}}
+Historians generally think the above quote was an attack on Hooke (who was short and hunchbacked), rather than - or in addition to - a statement of modesty. The two were in a dispute over optical discoveries at the time. The latter interpretation also fits with many of his other disputes over his discoveries - such as the question of who discovered calculus as discussed above.
+And then in a memoir later
+{{cquote|I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.<ref>Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855) by Sir David Brewster (Volume II. Ch. 27)</ref>}}
+==Footnotes and references==
+{{reflist|3}}
+==Resources==
+===References===
+* {{cite book | authorlink = Eric Temple Bell | last = Bell | first = E.T. | title = Men of Mathematics | location = New York | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 1937 | id = ISBN 0-671-46400-0 }} [http://scidiv.bcc.ctc.edu/Math/Newton.html Excerpt]
+* {{cite book | last = Christianson | first = Gale | title = In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton & his times | location = New York | publisher = Free Press | year = 1984 | id = ISBN 0-02-905190-8 }} This well documented work provides, in particular, valuable information regarding Newton's knowledge of [[Patristics]]
+* {{cite web | url = http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Newton.html | title = Sir Isaac Newton | work = School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland | accessmonthday=8 March | accessyear = 2005 }}
+* {{cite web | url = http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/ | title = The Newton Project | work = Imperial College London | accessmonthday=8 March | accessyear = 2005 }}
+* {{cite book | authorlink = Richard S. Westfall | last = Westfall | first = Richard S. | title = Never at Rest | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1980, 1998 | id = ISBN 0-521-27435-4 }}
+* {{cite book | last = Craig | first=John | chapter = Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters | title = Notes and Records of the Royal Society (18) | location= London | publisher=The Royal Society | year = 1963 }}
+*"The Invisible Science." ''Magical Egypt''. Chance Gardner and John Anthony West. 2005.
+===Further reading===
+*[[David Berlinski|Berlinski, David]], ''Newton's Gift: How Sir Isaac Newton Unlocked the System of our World'', ISBN 0-684-84392-7 (hardback), also in paperback, Simon & Schuster, (2000).
+* Christianson, Gale E. ''In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times''. Collier MacMillan, (1984). 608 pages.
+* Dampier, William C. & M. Dampier. ''Readings in the Literature of Science''. Harper & Row, New York, (1959).
+*Gjertsen, Derek. ''The Newton Handbook'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, (1986).
+* Gleick, James. ''Isaac Newton''. Knopf, (2003). hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0-375-42233-1.
+* [[Stephen Hawking|Hawking, Stephen]], ed.  ''On the Shoulders of Giants''.  ISBN 0-7624-1348-4 Places selections from Newton's ''Principia'' in the context of selected writings by [[Copernicus]], [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]], [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] and [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]].
+* [[Michael H. Hart|Hart, Michael J.]] ''[[The 100]]''. Carol Publishing Group, (July 1992), paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0-8065-1350-0.
+* Kandaswamy, Anand M.  ''The Newton/Leibniz Conflict in Context''.  [http://www.math.rutgers.edu/courses/436/Honors02/newton.html]
+* [[John Maynard Keynes|Keynes, John Maynard]].  ''Essays in Biography''.  W W Norton & Co, 1963, paperback, ISBN 0-393-00189-X. Keynes had taken a close interest in Newton and owned many of Newton's private papers.
+* Newton, Isaac. ''Papers and Letters in Natural Philosophy'', edited by [[I. Bernard Cohen]]. Harvard University Press, 1958,1978. ISBN 0-674-46853-8.
+* Newton, Isaac (1642–1727). ''The Principia'': a new Translation, Guide by I. Bernard Cohen ISBN 0-520-08817-4 University of California (1999) ''Warning: common mistranslations exposed!''
+* Shapley, Harlow, S. Rapport, and H. Wright. ''A Treasury of Science''; "Newtonia" pp. 147–9; "Discoveries" pp. 150-4. Harper & Bros., New York, (1946).
+* Simmons, J.  ''The giant book of scientists -- The 100 greatest minds of all time'', Sydney: The Book Company, (1996).
+* [[Richard de Villamil]]. ''Newton, The man.'' G.D. Knox, London, 1931. Preface by [[Albert Einstein]]. Reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York (1972).
+*Whiteside, D. T. ''The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton - 8 volumes'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (1967–81).
+*Isaac Newton, Sir;  J Edleston;  [[Roger Cotes]],   [http://books.google.com/books?as_brr=1&id=OVPJ6c9_kKgC&vid=OCLC14437781&dq=%22isaac+newton%22&jtp=I ''Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes, including letters of other eminent men''], London, John W. Parker, West Strand; Cambridge, John Deighton, 1850. – [[Google Books]]
+*Cohen, I. B. (1980). The Newtonian Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+*Dobbs, B. J. T. (1975). The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy or "The Hunting of the Greene Lyon." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+*Halley, E. (1687). "Review of Newton's Principia." Philosophical Transactions 186:291–297.
+*Herivel, J. W. (1965). The Background to Newton's Principia. A Study of Newton's Dynamical Researches in the Years 1664–84. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
+*Koyré, A. (1965). Newtonian Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
+*Maclaurin, C. (1748). An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, in Four Books. London: A. Millar and J. Nourse.
+*Newton, I. (1934). Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and His System of the World, tr. A. Motte, rev. F. Cajori. Berkeley: University of California Press.
+*Newton, I. (1952). Opticks, or A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections & Colours of Light. New York: Dover Publications.
+*Newton, I. (1958). Isaac Newton's Papers and Letters on Natural Philosophy and Related Documents, eds. I. B. Cohen and R. E. Schofield. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
+*Newton, I. (1959–1977). The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, eds. H. W. Turnbull, J. F. Scott, A. R. Hall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+*Newton, I. (1962). The Unpublished Scientific Papers of Isaac Newton: A Selection from the Portsmouth Collection in the University Library, Cambridge, ed. A. R. Hall and M. B. Hall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+*Newton, I. (1967). The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton, ed. D. T. Whiteside. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+*Newton, I. (1975). Isaac Newton's 'Theory of the Moon's Motion' (1702). London: Dawson.
+*Pemberton, H. (1728). A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy. London: S. Palmer.
+*Stukeley, W. (1936). Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life, ed. A. H. White. London: Taylor and Francis.
+*Westfall, R. S. (1971). Force in Newton's Physics: The Science of Dynamics in the Seventeenth Century. London: Macdonald.
+*Shamos, Morris H. (1959). Great Experiments in Physics. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
+==See also==
+<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
+* [[De Motu (Berkeley's essay)]]
+* [[Gauss-Newton algorithm]]
+* [[History of calculus]]
+* [[Isaac Newton's religious views]]
+* [[Newton fractal]]
+* [[Newton polygon]]
+* [[Newton polynomial]]
+* [[Newton series]]
+* [[Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy]]
+* [[Newton-Cotes formulas]]
+* [[Newton's cannonball]]
+* [[Newton's Laws of Motion]]
+* [[The Parable of the Solar System Model]]
+* [[Spalding Gentlemen’s Society]]
+* "[[Standing on the shoulders of giants]]"
+</div>
+==External links==
+{{wikiquote}}
+{{wikisource author}}
+{{commons|Isaac Newton}}
+* [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Newton.html ScienceWorld biography]
+* [http://www.ltrc.mcmaster.ca/newton/ The Mind of Isaac Newton] By combining images, audio, animations and interactive segments, the application gives students a sense of Newton's multifaceted mind.
+* {{gutenberg author|id=Isaac_Newton|name=Isaac Newton}}
+* [http://www.phaser.com/modules/historic/newton/index.html Newton's First ODE] - A study by [http://www.phaser.com Phaser Scientific Software] on how Newton approximated the solutions of a first-order ODE using infinite series.
+* [http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/ Newton Research Project]
+* [http://burndy.mit.edu/Collections/Babson/Online/Principia/ PDF of Newton's Principia: 1687, 1713, and 1726 editions]
+* [http://www.antiquebooks.net/readpage.html#newton Newton's Principia - read and search]
+* [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/PictDisplay/Newton.html Portraits of Isaac Newton]
+* [http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95dec/newton.html Sir Isaac Newton Scientist and Mathematician]
+* {{dmoz|Science/Physics/History/People/Newton,_Isaac/|Isaac Newton}}
+* [http://www.skepticreport.com/predictions/newton.htm Rebuttal of Newton's astrology]
+* [http://www.galilean-library.org/snobelen.html Newton's Religious Views Reconsidered]
+* [http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/Newton/Newtonexhibit.htm March 5–June 12, 2005 Isaac Newton's personal copy of Principia at] [[Huntington Library]]
+* [http://www.pierre-marteau.com/editions/1701-25-mint-reports.html Newton's Royal Mint Reports]
+* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/ Newton's Dark Secrets] [[Nova (TV series)|NOVA]] TV programme.
+* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Newton}}
+* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton-stm/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Newton's views on space, time, and motion]
+* [http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051308/index.htm Newton's Castle] Educational material
+* [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/newton The Chymistry of Isaac Newton] Research on his Alchemical writings
+* [http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/ The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences]
+* [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money1.htm Isaac Newton on £1 note.]
+* [http://www.fmalive.com FMA Live! Cool program for teaching Newton's laws to kids]
+* [http://www.adherents.com/people/pn/Isaac_Newton.html Newton's religious position]
+* [http://hss.fullerton.edu/philosophy/GeneralScholium.htm The "General Scholium" to Newton's Principia]
+* [http://www.giovannipastore.it/ISTRUZIONI.htm Pastore, Giovanni, ''Antikythera E I Regoli Calcolatori'', Rome, 2006, privately published]
+*[http://www.giovannipastore.it/CALCOLATORE%20DI%20ANTIKYTHERA.htm The Antikythera Calculator (Italian and English versions)]
+{{start box}}
+{{s-aca}}
+{{succession box |
+ before=[[Isaac Barrow]] |
+ title=[[Lucasian Professor of Mathematics|Lucasian Professor]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] |
+ years=1669 &ndash; 1702 |
+ after=[[William Whiston]]
+}}
+{{s-gov}}
+{{succession box |
+ before=[[Thomas Neale]] |
+ title=[[Master of the Mint]]|
+ years=1700 &ndash; 1727 |
+ after=[[John Conduitt]]
+}}
+{{end box}}
+<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
+{{Enlightenment}}
+{{Persondata
+|NAME=Newton, Isaac
+|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Newton, Sir Isaac
+|SHORT DESCRIPTION=English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer
+|DATE OF BIRTH={{birth date|1643|1|4|df=y}}
+|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[England]]
+|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1727|3|31|df=y}}
+|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Kensington]], [[London]], [[England]]
+}}
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Issac}}
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+[[Category:Antitrinitarianism]]
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+[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
+[[Category:1643 births]]
+[[Category:1727 deaths]]
+[[Category:Scientific instrument makers]]
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