Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton(1643-1727)

In 1666, in the garden of his mother’s home at Woolsthorpe, the great Isaac Newton was struck by an idea -- the idea that the force which held the planets in their orbit was the same force which caused an apple to strike him in the head.

This lead to his discovery of the Law of Universal Gravitation

Newton made many contributions in optics such as prism and new lens for telescope which produced clearer images. Furthermore, his contributions in motion included him refining Galieo’s theory of inertia and his law of Universal Gravitation. The motion was governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating consistency between Keplers laws of planetary motion and theory of gravitation. This removed last doubts about heliocentrism and advanced the Scientific Revolution.

Newton gave man greater power over his environment with newly acquired knowledge. He affirmed his law of motion (linked with Kepler’s planetary motion). \ His theories were backed by solid mathematical proofs as he explained the universe without mysticism. Therefore, astronomy earned right to be known as science. Scientific pursuit was accepted.