Isaac Newton

Essay by f16freakHigh School, 10th gradeA+, June 2008

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Newton, IsaacJanuary 4, 1643 – March 31, 1727Inventor, Scientist, Author, Christian“If I have seen further [than others] it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton, 1675Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most famous physicists in all history. In fact, in a 2005 poll of the Royal Society, Newton was determined to have had a greater effect on the history of science than Albert Einstein. Legrange, a French mathematician, said “Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed.” Most people know of this man’s contributions science, and even that he revolutionized it for all time, but few know of his involvement in promoting Christianity.

Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England, during the English Civil War. He attended The King’s School in Grantham, England, from the ages of twelve until seventeen and again after he was 18. Between these two periods was a short stint during which Newton’s mother tried to convince him to become a farmer.

He became engaged to a young woman named Katherine Storer, but this engagement was later cancelled and Newton remained unmarried his entire life. At 19, Newton began to attend Trinity College in Cambridge. The college was closed very soon after he received his degree in 1665 in precaution of the Black Plague, which killed some twenty million people throughout Europe. For the rest of his life, Newton dedicated his time to discovering new areas of mathematics, optics, mechanics, and gravitation. Unbeknownst to many, Newton was also a strong Christian and devoted many of his later years to writing religious works on the literal interpretation of the Bible. He also became Master of the Mint in 1669, and his actions in that position (including changing the Pound Sterling from the silver standard to the gold standard) earned...