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Galileo Galilei Dies
Another important world event that happened during Isaac's lifetime was the death of Galileo Galilei in 1642. Galileo died the same year that Isaac Newton was born. Galileo was considered the father of modern sciences. He created the telescope and challenged already accepted beliefs created by the church in the area of science. Because of his defiance against the church, he was put to life in house arrest. Newton considered Galileo as an inspiration and expanded on his works (biography.com). -
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The English Civil Wars
A major world event during Newton's lifetime was the English Civil Wars. The English Civil Wars were multiples wars that divided England into two opposing forces, one for the king and one for the parliament. The war was between royalists (supported king Charles I) and Cavaliers (opposed king Charles I). This ended with a victory for the cavaliers and the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. At the end of the war, Charles II had fled to France after after trying to regain power (britpolitics.co.uk). -
Birth of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day, 1642 at Woolsthorpe Manor, England. He was born to Hannah Newton, his father had died three months prior to Isaac's birth. Everyone thought he was going to die at birth due to his microscopic size (Anderson 6,7) -
The Ending of the Thirty Years War
An important event that took place during Isaac Newton's lifetime when the ending of the Thirty Years War with the on October 14, 1648. The Thirty Years War was a war that took place from 1618-1648 that was over religion, territory, and power. Many European countries were involved like Austria, Spain, France, present day German, and Sweden. The war was broken up into two phases, the Hapsburg Triumphs and the Hapsburg defeats. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia (beck et. al. 526-527). -
The Taj Mahal is Built
A world event that occurred during Newton's lifetime was the creation of the Taj Mahal in 1653. The Taj Mahal was ordered to be created by Shah Jahan to remember his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who had died after giving birth to their 14th child in 1631.Construction for the Taj Mahal began in 1631 and took 22 years and 22,000 workers to build. This ultimate symbol of love is one of the seven wonders of the world and one of the greatest architecture in the whole world (tajmahal.org.uk) -
The Restoration
An important world event in England going on during Isaac Newton's life was the Restoration. The Restoration took place on May 25th, 1660 and is when Charles II returned to restore monarchy to England. Parliament asked Charles II to return to England and rule as king. Before Charles II, Oliver Cromwell was the dictator of England and ruled very strictly. When Cromwell died in 1658, Parliament made the decision to invite back Charles in order to abolish Puritan Morality (britianexpress.com). -
The Creation of Calculus
Isaac Newton created both differential and integral calculus in 1665. Calculus is the branch of mathematics that deals with the finding and properties of derivatives and integrals of functions.Newton had created calculus in order to explain the motion of planets in the universe. Initially, Newton called the new branch of mathematics fluxions. Calculus helps prove physics theories and allows for the calculation of changes in the world (storyofmathematics.com). -
The Creation of the Three Laws of Motion
Isaac Newton created the three laws of motion in 1666, shortly after he created calculus. The first law is that every object stays at rest until a force acts upon it. The second law is that force equals mass times acceleration. The final law is that for every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction. Without the three laws of motion,the concept would be unheard of and humanity would not understand how the universe works (World Book Inc. 56). -
Creation of the Reflecting Telescope
Isaac Newton created the reflecting telescope in 1668 in England. The reflecting telescope was the first telescope with chromatic aberration, which is the fringes of color that surrounds bring objects through the lens. In order to accomplish this, Isaac simply removed the lens and replaced it with a metal mirror. Newton created the telescope to study optics, not the universe (amazingspace.org) -
Appointed as the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University
Newton was appointed as the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1669. He was already teaching at the age of 26! A Lucasian Professor is a honorable professor at Cambridge. Cambridge is one of the most elite schools in the whole world. To be asked to teach at Cambridge, Newton had to be one of the smartest people in the world. He proved this by creating calculus and his three laws of motion shortly after his first year out of college(Christianson 43) -
Newton becomes a member of the Royal Society
In 1672, Isaac Newton is appointed to be a member of the Royal Society. the Royal Society is a group of the smartest scientists of the time who used the scientific method in order to create things. Isaac Newton was appointed into the group for his work on the creation of the reflecting telescope which fascinated the royal society and invited him to join (Anderson 50). -
Edict of Fontainebleau
A world event during Newton's life was when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes on August 18, 1685. Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau to revoke the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes was created in 1598 to grant religious freedom to Huguenots in France to stop the religious wars. However, in 1685, Louis XIV revoked this edict in order to make France only have one religion and to become the absolute ruler of France (huguenot-museum-germany.com) -
"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" is written
"Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" was written by Isaac Newton and was published on July 5, 1687. The book was written in order to inform the world of the three laws of motion that Newton had created. "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" was initially written in Latin and was called "Principia" but was translated into many other languages later. Without this book, the world would not know of the laws of motion or the concept of gravity (Anderson 71,72). -
Peter the Great becomes Czar of Russia
An important world event that took place during Isaac Newton's life was Peter the Great becoming the czar of Russia in 1689. Peter the Great initially jointly ruled with his brother Ivan V and when Ivan died. Peter wanted to reform Russia to be more like Europe. Peter also gained a lot of land for Russia through wars with the Turkish. Overall, Peter the Great reformed Russia in positive ways in order to westernize Russia (www.biography.com). -
Appointed the Master of the Royal Mint
Isaac Newton was appointed to the Master of the Royal Mint in 1699. The Royal Mint was the place that created the currency for England.Newton would hold this position until his death in 1727. He was recommended for the spot by Charles Montauge, the chancellor of the Exchequer. As Master of the Mint, Newton's main job was the recoinage of old silver coins and bringing justices to counterfeiters (http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/). -
Newton writes the book "Opticks"
Isaac Newton wrote the book "Opticks" in 1704. This book basically summarizes his discoveries and theories on light and color and announce them to the world. This was the second and last book that Isaac Newton wrote in his life. Some of his discoveries mentioned in the book are the idea of a rainbow, his invention of the reflecting telescope, and the spectrum of the sunlight. (www.historyofinformation.com) -
Isaac Newton's Death
Isaac Newton died on March 31st, 1727 in Winchester, England at the age of 84. Near the end of his life, Newton had been experiencing digestion problems constantly. Then on March 30th, Newton blacked out from severe pain in his abdomen and was pronounced dead the next day (biography.com).
