Sir Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. He laid the foundation for differential and integral calculus. His work on optics and gravitation make him one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known. "Issac Newton was one of the world 's great scientists because he took his ideas, of earlier scientists, and combined them into a unified picture of how the universe works." Issac Newton was born on Christmas day 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, in the country of England. He was born prematurely, so he was very tiny. His mother said that he was so small that he could fit inside a quart-size mug. His father was a successful farmer also named Isaac Newton, but died three months before his son 's birth. At the young age of three, his mother, Hannah Ayscough, sent Isaac to live with his grandmother so that she could remarry a wealthy clergyman named Barnabas Smith. She raised a second family with Barnabas and rarely saw Isaac. Isaac disliked his step-father with a passion. His lack of love and attention from his mother was probably the reason why he was such a complex person. He had unexplained emotional breakdowns and sometimes violent behaviors. It was said that he might have suffered from some form of autism due to his extreme lack of social interaction and repetitive patterns of behaviors. At a young age, Isaac was fascinated by chemicals. During his school years, he enjoyed math and science. When his mother returned after the death of her second husband, Isaac was supposed to look after the farm when he turned seventeen. But, since he was such a failure at farming, Isaac 's uncle convinced his mother that he should attend college instead. He attended Cambridge University but due to a disease that spread through Europe and then reached Cambridge, the school had to close for two years. Isaac returned home and during those two years he spent his time working on math and
Cited: Isaac Newton – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Isaac Newton Biography – Newton 's Life, Career, Work by Dr. Robert A. Hatch. About.com Inventors by Mary Bellis