Brief Biography Of Hannah Newton

Megamind In the sleepy, little town of Woolsthorpe, England, January 4, 1643, Hannah Newton became the proud mother of a small baby boy. The boy’s father had died three months prior to his son’s birth. So to honor him, Mrs. Newton named her son Isaac in remembrance of his father, Isaac Newton Sr. However, she never dreamed her son, descended from the humble farmer, would one day become one of the greatest scientific minds in history. After raising young Isaac for three years, Mrs. Newton decided to marry Barnebous Smith, a wealthy clergyman, leaving her son to live with his grandmother. Many scholars believe that the simple act of leaving Isaac to live with his grandmother contributed heavily to his mistrusting and suspicious personality later in life. At the age of ten, Isaac and his mother were reunited and lived happily together for two years. At the age of twelve, Isaac enrolled in King’s School in Grantham where he was introduced to the fascinating world of chemistry, planting the seeds for his later love of alchemy. After four years of schooling, his mother wanted him to return and become a farmer. Despite his good intentions, Isaac paid more
attention to his books than the wellbeing of the animals. This led his mother to return him to school with hopes of university. In June 1661, Newton arrived at Cambridge University in Trinity College. One of the professors Newton studied under was known as Dr. Isaac Barrow, a Greek scholar and mathematician. Newton studied optics and physics with Dr. Barrow. This instructor was one of the first to recognize the potential Newton had, and introduced him to the wonders of telescopes and the current light theories. Even though Newton took many class, he still found time to conduct his own research. Due to Dr. Barrow’s influence, Newton kept up with current light theories, and mastered Kepler’s optics. His love of reading and experimentation kept him constantly in the library. Thus, his grades were unimpressive. Even though his grades were average, Newton was awarded the title of scholar. This title came with four years of financial support after graduation at Cambridge. Unfortunately, his stay at Cambridge was interrupted by the Great Plague in the summer of 1665.
To avoid getting sick, Newton went back to Woolsthope with a shiny new bachelor’s degree. While waiting for the plague to pass, Newton continued reading and more importantly writing. During this time of waiting, Newton laid the foundation for calculus after creating the binomial theorem. Another area Newton expanded while waiting for the plague to pass was optics. Newton discovered that white light contains the entire color spectrum. The final thing Newton formulated during his stay at Woolsthope was the inverse square law for orbiting bodies. In a span of less than ten years Newton became one of the foremost scientists and mathematicians in Europe, earning respect from many in both
fields. Newton returned to Cambridge when it reopened during the spring of 1667. He was appointed to be a mathematics professor, a position he would hold for the next thirty years. Because he was a professor, Newton was exempt from tutoring students, and devoted himself to optics. Newton also constructed the first reflecting telescope. The invention of this telescope was revolutionary in the science community, and many say this was Newton’s first major public scientific achievement.