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SIR ISAAC NEWTON:
Newton, Sir Isaac. 1642-1727. English physicist and mathematician. Developed binomial theorem (1665); invented method of fluxions, early form of differential calculus, and a form of integral calculus (1665-66); conceived idea of universal gravitation after seeing apple fall in his garden (1665), according to Voltaire, who is reputed to have had the story from Newton' s stepniece; deduced from Kepler' s third law that the force between the earth and the moon must be inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, and showed that Kepler' s three laws could each be derived from single law of gravitation; discovered composite nature of white light and ability of prism to separate colors owing to their different refrangibilities; studied chromatic aberration and to eliminate it invented a form of reflecting telescope (1668); developed an emission, or corpuscular, theory of light, later modifying it to include some wave phenomena. Professor, Cambridge (1669-1701); M.P. (1689-90, 1701); warden (1695-99), master (1699-1727) of the mint; president of Royal Society (1703-27). Published works included De Motu (1684), Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the seminal work for modern science (published by Edmund Halley, 1687), Opticks (1704).
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