This paper was for a class called History of Mathematcis. Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), Mathematician and physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time.

Essay by pheaglesUniversity, Bachelor's January 2003

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Isaac Newton's life can be divided into three quite distinct periods. The first is his boyhood days from 1643 up to his appointment to a chair in 1669. The second period from 1669 to 1687 was the highly productive period in which he was Lucasian professor at Cambridge. The third period (nearly as long as the other two combined) saw Newton as a highly paid government official in London with little further interest in mathematical research.

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day of 1642. He was the posthumous child of a yeoman father and a Hannah Newton. At birth he was a physical weakling who was said could fit into a quart mug. He grew up n his father's house near the hamlet of Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire. When he was three his mother remarried and he was placed in the care of his maternal grandmother for eight years. During the English Civil War the people lived in fear, Isaac a solitary child without playmates reverted to meditation.

He began to construct mechanical contrivances-fiery kites, lanterns, and windmills. Hs mother returned to Woolsthorpe in 1653, intending to make a farmer of Isaac. His uncle the master of Grantham School convinced his mother of his extraordinary talent and that the boy was unsuited for such work and should be sent to a university.

Isaac began his formal education at the Free Grammar School in Grantham he completed his education there in 1660. Newton showed signs of his mathematical genius while attending this school but there is no solid knowledge of this. When historians attempt to gather information on famous people there always seems to be tales of early stages of his passion or skill but it seems that people believe that things were there because of the current state of the...