History of Science: Part 5: Isaac Newton
Enthusiasm for Science, people who changed the world, Autism awareness, Friendship
Who is Issac Newton?
Issac Newton was born the same year Galileo died. He was born in a very small rural village in Lincolnshire. She was born prematurely and wasn’t expected to survive. Luckily for all humanity, Newton did survive and he grew up to be a very curious young man. He grew up and gave lectures at Trinity College. He refused to talk down to the students and very few understood very little of what he was teachings. It’s been said that several times, zero students showed up at his lectures and he merely lectured at the walls.
Newton was the first to discover that white light was made up of a spectrum of colored light. He noticed how, white light through a prism created a rainbow, but red light through a prism remained red. He also made improvements to telescopes of the day.
Laws of Motion
During his time at Cambridge University, a plague epidemic arose and took the lives of many for two full years. During this time, all students were forced to return home until the death rate slowed down. Instead of partying and socializing, Newton studied hard and in solitude. It was during this time that he wondered about the moon and how it stayed in motion and didn’t crash to earth. Newton recalled, sitting in the orchard wondering about this one day, when an apple fell from a tree. It was at this moment that Newton had the idea that the apple is attracted to the ground. Why didn’t the apple go up? Or stay in place? Or go sideways? He considered that the apple is pulled to the ground. After considering this, he developed three laws of motion.
https://youtu.be/JGO_zDWmkvk -
Newton's three laws of motion
Newton theorized that the Moon is in fact falling to earth but the speed at which the moon is moving means it’s constantly missing the earth and continues to fall.
https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ -
Neil Degrasse Tyson on Newton
Friends
Issac Newton was a incomprehensible genius. Despite this, he was very anti-social. He kept to himself, had few friends and rarely shared his work with anyone. Thankfully, while teaching at Trinity College, he made one friend, Edmond Halley. Halley was fascinated by astronomy, which he discussed with Newton at length. Edmond Halley wondered what kept the planets and celestial bodies in motion. He was shocked to find that Newton had figured out the calculations. Isaac Newton had privately invented calculus, a way to measure the trajectory of objects moving at irregular speeds.
Edmond Halley saw the genius in Newton. He himself used Newton’s calculations to figure out the gravitational effects of Jupiter and Saturn. Halley made a list of 24 comets observed throughout time. He calculated their trajectory and believed that two comets were actually the same object. He predicted that the asteroid was orbiting the sun and passing earth every 76 years. He predicted its return in the year 1758. Unfortunately, Edmond Halley died 16 years before that date but when the asteroid came back around just as he had predicted, the scientific community named it after him in his honor.
Edmond Halley was one of Newton’s very few friends. Not only was Halley a friend but he funded and supported Newton in his work.
Autism
Many have speculated that a condition known as Autism. Autism is a mental condition that interrupts the brains ability to communicate with others. People who have autism struggle to recognize tones of voice, facial expressions, keeping eye contact and making friends. However, they often have extreme focus. This focus and concentration allows them to excel at areas that interest them. The World Health Organization estimates that 1% of people have some kind of Autism. Odds are, you know someone. These people aren’t necessarily earth-shattering geniuses like Newton. However, many are able to soak up huge amounts of information on their favorite subjects. They might not seem friendly and they might seem nervous talking to you for the first time. Always remember, it’s just the way their brains work. Some kids struggle to concentrate but are great at making friends. Everyone is different and the world is better that way.
Physics
With encouragement from Edmond Halley, Newton published his discovers and became hugely famous and admired in his own time.
He theorized that the earth is heavier than the apple and that causes some invisible force to attract the smaller object. Newton applied this theory to everything in the universe. Rivers being pulled downstream, the tides of the ocean, asteroids hitting earth, the moon orbiting the earth, the earth orbiting the sun, the whole motion of the universe. 50 moons could fit inside the earth. 1.3 million earths could fit in the sun. Every object was being moved by some invisible force coming from a bigger object.
Who is Issac Newton?
Issac Newton was born the same year Galileo died. He was born in a very small rural village in Lincolnshire. She was born prematurely and wasn’t expected to survive. Luckily for all humanity, Newton did survive and he grew up to be a very curious young man. He grew up and gave lectures at Trinity College. He refused to talk down to the students and very few understood very little of what he was teachings. It’s been said that several times, zero students showed up at his lectures and he merely lectured at the walls.
Newton was the first to discover that white light was made up of a spectrum of colored light. He noticed how, white light through a prism created a rainbow, but red light through a prism remained red. He also made improvements to telescopes of the day.
Laws of Motion
During his time at Cambridge University, a plague epidemic arose and took the lives of many for two full years. During this time, all students were forced to return home until the death rate slowed down. Instead of partying and socializing, Newton studied hard and in solitude. It was during this time that he wondered about the moon and how it stayed in motion and didn’t crash to earth. Newton recalled, sitting in the orchard wondering about this one day, when an apple fell from a tree. It was at this moment that Newton had the idea that the apple is attracted to the ground. Why didn’t the apple go up? Or stay in place? Or go sideways? He considered that the apple is pulled to the ground. After considering this, he developed three laws of motion.
https://youtu.be/JGO_zDWmkvk -
Newton's three laws of motion
Newton theorized that the Moon is in fact falling to earth but the speed at which the moon is moving means it’s constantly missing the earth and continues to fall.
https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ -
Neil Degrasse Tyson on Newton
Friends
Issac Newton was a incomprehensible genius. Despite this, he was very anti-social. He kept to himself, had few friends and rarely shared his work with anyone. Thankfully, while teaching at Trinity College, he made one friend, Edmond Halley. Halley was fascinated by astronomy, which he discussed with Newton at length. Edmond Halley wondered what kept the planets and celestial bodies in motion. He was shocked to find that Newton had figured out the calculations. Isaac Newton had privately invented calculus, a way to measure the trajectory of objects moving at irregular speeds.
Edmond Halley saw the genius in Newton. He himself used Newton’s calculations to figure out the gravitational effects of Jupiter and Saturn. Halley made a list of 24 comets observed throughout time. He calculated their trajectory and believed that two comets were actually the same object. He predicted that the asteroid was orbiting the sun and passing earth every 76 years. He predicted its return in the year 1758. Unfortunately, Edmond Halley died 16 years before that date but when the asteroid came back around just as he had predicted, the scientific community named it after him in his honor.
Edmond Halley was one of Newton’s very few friends. Not only was Halley a friend but he funded and supported Newton in his work.
Autism
Many have speculated that a condition known as Autism. Autism is a mental condition that interrupts the brains ability to communicate with others. People who have autism struggle to recognize tones of voice, facial expressions, keeping eye contact and making friends. However, they often have extreme focus. This focus and concentration allows them to excel at areas that interest them. The World Health Organization estimates that 1% of people have some kind of Autism. Odds are, you know someone. These people aren’t necessarily earth-shattering geniuses like Newton. However, many are able to soak up huge amounts of information on their favorite subjects. They might not seem friendly and they might seem nervous talking to you for the first time. Always remember, it’s just the way their brains work. Some kids struggle to concentrate but are great at making friends. Everyone is different and the world is better that way.
Physics
With encouragement from Edmond Halley, Newton published his discovers and became hugely famous and admired in his own time.
He theorized that the earth is heavier than the apple and that causes some invisible force to attract the smaller object. Newton applied this theory to everything in the universe. Rivers being pulled downstream, the tides of the ocean, asteroids hitting earth, the moon orbiting the earth, the earth orbiting the sun, the whole motion of the universe. 50 moons could fit inside the earth. 1.3 million earths could fit in the sun. Every object was being moved by some invisible force coming from a bigger object.
Good Omen, Bad Omen
https://youtu.be/rYrgU5k4ZR4
66 – Sign that the Second Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed 4 years later
451 – Attila the Hun saw it before a major battle
1066 – William the Conqueror saw it before the Norman invasion of 1066
1145- The Second Crusade begins around the same time
1222 – 3 months later, Brescia earthquake kills 12,000 in Italy
1301 – 2 years later, the Crete Earthquake destroys the Lighthouse of Alexandria
1378 – The Holy Roman Emperor dies before the end of the month
1456 – Turkish forces saw it before the invasion of Belgrade
1531 – The Virgin Mary appears to Juan Diego in Mexico City 3 months later
1607 – The First English Colony in North America that sa
1682 – 6 years later, the Glorious Rebellion happens in England
1758 – A year later, the first ever double earthquake happens over the sea of Galilee
1835 – Queen Victoria ascends to the throne 2 years later
1910 – Seen on the eve of WW1
1986 – Chernobyl Disaster
What do you think? Good Omen? Bad Omen? Significant? Not?
The Enlightenment
Newton developed equations that explained and predicted the solar system. He had unlocked the clockwork that drove it all. Many wondered why the moon orbited the earth instead of the earth orbiting the moon. Many were satisfied that it was that way, because God had made it that way, something that Newton believed. However, Newton investigated the mechanics behind such facts of life and discovered natural laws of physics that hold everything together. The idea of modern physics and that natural laws governed the Universe was a new idea. Newton was a Christian, who despite believing that Jesus was God’s son and not God himself, he had taken away the common view that God directly directed the planets. Instead God used the laws of physics. Newton’s discovery was one of the major steps toward the Scientific Revolution and the following Enlightenment. People became aware that there were certain truths that could be discovered about the world.
First Man in Space
Can you imagine, being the first man in space? Newton's theory of gravitational strength is just a theory at that point. The scientists preparing you for your trip into space, have been running training missions in a giant swimming pool. They believe that the further you'll be from earth, the weaker the gravitational pull. So they're training you underwater because they believe the experience will be similar. When the day comes and they fire you into space, you'll discover just how right Newton was.
https://youtu.be/E9oKEJ1pXPw -
Red Bull - Jumping from Space
Voyager 1
From that day on, Newton’s laws, calculations and theories have been used in many great achievements. He didn’t live to see many of them but invention of cars, planes, trains and rockets all build off of Newton’s genius. Humankind understood motion and gravity like never before.
530 years ago – Columbus sailed 4,000 miles
130 years ago – the Wright Brothers flew a plane for 59 seconds
60 years ago – Mankind reached the moon, 239,000 Miles Away
20 years ago – Voyager 1 exits our solar system (14.5 billion miles)
Ferdinand Magellan hadn’t even circumnavigated the globe 500 years previously, and now, humanity launched a spacecraft beyond our solar system.
The Voyager missions took advantage of a special alignment of the outer planets that happens just once every 176 years. This alignment allows spacecraft to gravitationally "slingshot" from one planet to the next, making the most efficient use of their limited fuel. This technique was the exact theory that Newton envisioned while in that orchard hundreds of years previously. NASA used his theories of gravity to reach escape velocity from each planet, launching voyager 1 at the next one.
https://youtu.be/Agdvt9M3NJA -
Bill Nye and Asteroids
https://youtu.be/EZSCtgfmEO0 -
DART Mission
In 2022, Newton's laws of motion were used to deflect an asteroid.
Asteroids craters
Deep Impact or Armageddon?
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