Isaac Newton (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: James Gleick
- First Published: 2003
- Type of Work: Biography, history of science, and science
- Time of Work: The seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
- Setting: England
- Principal Characters: Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Gottfried Leibniz, Edmund Halley, Robert Hooke
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Science or scientists, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Seventeenth century, Mathematics or mathematicians, Theology, Alchemy, Motion, Gravitation
- Locales: England
Isaac Newton was the most famous scientist of his generation. One of his major accomplishments was the application of the law of gravity to the motion of planets, the path of comets, and the influence of the moon on ocean tides. He also wrote a comprehensive book on optics which corrected numerous earlier mistaken ideas about light. He developed the mathematics of differential and integral calculus. He carried out extensive chemical experiments and did biblical research on the concept of the Trinity but chose to keep these findings hidden from publication. After age fifty, he became...
[The entire page is 1875 words long]
