Mathematician and physicist whose ground-breaking work revolutionized the study of the physical world. Born at Woolsthorpe, England, Newton graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1665. That autumn, Newton retired to Woolsthorpe for some 18 months to avoid the plague, during which time he formulated the basic features of his greatest works in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and optics, captured in his theories of \u201cfluxions\u201d (calculus), motion and gravitation, and the composition of light.<\/p>\n
In 1667 Newton returned to Cambridge and was appointed Lucasian professor of mathematics. It was not until 1669 that he communicated any of his theories born of the Woolsthorpe period. Throughout his career, Newton was notoriously possessive of his ideas, reluctant to publish, and inordinately sensitive to criticism. In response to criticism, he often became resentful and vindictive, threatening to withdraw from science entirely or using the power of his reputation or office to denigrate others. Be that as it may, when some of his works in mathematics began to circulate in 1669, his genius was quickly recognized.<\/p>\n
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Mathematician and physicist whose ground-breaking work revolutionized the study of the physical world. Born at Woolsthorpe, England, Newton graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1665. That autumn, Newton retired to Woolsthorpe for some 18 months to avoid the plague, during which time he formulated the basic features of his greatest works in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-s"],"yoast_head":"\n