Isaac Newton

In his day, Isaac Newton was referred to as a natural philosopher. He was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. He had a significant role in the Scientific Revolution and the ensuing Enlightenment. Newton co-developed the concept of infinitesimal calculus with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and he made important contributions to optics as well.

Before the theory of relativity took its place, Newton's Principia included the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which constituted the prevailing scientific perspective for centuries. Newton eliminated uncertainty regarding the heliocentricity of the Solar System by using his mathematical description of gravity to deduce Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the paths of comets, the precession of the equinoxes, and other phenomena. He showed that the same concepts could be used to explain the motion of things on Earth and heavenly bodies. The geodetic observations of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others eventually corroborated Newton's deduction that the Earth is an oblate spheroid, persuading the majority of European scientists that Newtonian mechanics is superior to prior theories.

Based on his discovery that a prism divides white light into the visible spectrum's colors, Newton constructed the first useful reflecting telescope and created the theory of color. His very significant book Opticks, which was published in 1704, gathered his work on light.

Born - Died: 1643-1727

Field: mathematical, physical, astronomical, alchemical, theologian

Important contributions: formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation