Unknown Side Of Histories Most Influential Man - ISAAC NEWTON.

When we prepare lists of the most influential people of all time never be complete without Sir Isaac Newton. Newton's laws are linked to almost everything we see in ordinary life. They aid us to  understand how machines work, how cricket ball move, how anything moves. However, there was a secret side of this great mind scientist which will become clear by the conclude of this story.     

By his mid-20s, Newton  invented calculus. Not bad for the son of an uneducated farmer. He never met his father who died three months earlier his birth on Christmas day in the year of 1642 in the small village in England.  

He was a premature baby and so small. Many felt that baby very hard to survive. When Newton was three, his mom remarried and moved to an adjoining village to live with a wealthy priest. Newton was left behind in the care of his grandparents.

That abandonment scarred him. He was a strange child - more interested in mechanics than making friends. 

He sculpted sundial at the age of 9. When he was 12, he entered at a local grammar school and his  signature can still be seen by a windowsill of the King's School today. 

Newton's House

After the death of his stepdad, his mother attempted  to  remove him from school so he could be a farmer.  Fortunately, the schoolmaster convinced his mother to send him back to class where he obtained the  knowledge required to enter the University of  Cambridge in the year of 1661, paying his way by  working as a servant. 

He also studied the works of the ancient  Greek  philosophers, he questioned their theories  writing in  his notebook in Latin, "Plato is my friend,  Aristotle  is  my friend, but my best friend is truth."  

He promised to find the truth through stringent scientific experimentation. His time as a graduate was unremarkable, but the extraordinary situation that happened next would set the stage for his greatest achievements. 

Shortly after receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1665, the "Bubonic plague" devasted Europe and might take the lives of an estimated one out of every four people in London.  

The pandemic forced Newton to work from his childhood home for the next two years and would lead to his most amazing discoveries. He used a prism to discover that white light and sunlight is made up of the colors of the rainbow.

Prism 

The widely held faith at the time was Aristotle's  theory that color was a mix of black and white. To  prove his theory, Newton built a reflecting telescope  that used mirrors instead than lenses leading to a  more accurate image. That's an entire lot safer than the  time he stuck a sewing needle into his eye socket  to figure out if altering his eye shape would change  his perception of color.  

Apart from the family home was also an apple tree. The famous apple tree. But there is no proper proof of this incident fruit actually fell on his head. Legend has it that Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple bonked him on the head, influence him to think about "Gravity". The force that brings things down. He did ask this question that helped unlock our understanding of the universe: Might the similar force reach all the way to the moon?. He reasoned that the same gravitational pull kept the moon orbiting around Earth instead of wandering off and he consider this could also explain the movement of our planets in the solar system.

The mathematics at the time wasn't developed enough to determine the motion of these objects. So Newton invented his confess form of math calculus. 

There was a argue over who actually invented calculus. When German mathematician "Gottfried Leibniz" published his paper on calculus in 1684, Newton claimed that he has done the same work 20 years before. The thing is, Newton was so secretive that he hadn't really made his efforts public because he couldn't stand the scrutiny of his work. When Leibniz appealed to the Royal Society in London, Newton possessed his influence as the scientific institution's president to get it to apart with him. Many historians agree that the two found calculus independently. In 1667, after the end of the plague, he returned to the University to pursue his research as a fellow. 

He was a perfectionist. At times, he'd forget to eat. After two years, while still in his mid-twenties, he gained one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics afterwards held by none other than Stephen Hawking. Yet he was indifferent to his students.

Once when no one showed up for class, he lectured to an empty room. His true passion lay in research. In 1687, he published his classic masterpiece: the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

Often described to simply as Principia. One of the most significant works ever written. This was his own first edition copy. 

It was here that he placed out his law of universal gravitation as well as his three laws of motion. 

• The first law explains that how an object acts when no force is acting upon it. For example, a rocket stays still until a force is applied to it. 
• The second law tells us that the more mass an object has, the more force it'll take to move it. A larger rocket requires more fuel to form it accelerate. 
• The final law states that for each and every action there's a reaction. The engine produces hot exhaust gases that flow through the rear of the rocket. In reaction, a thrusting force is produced - pushing the rocket skyward. 

Newton might be considered one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known, However, he actually contributed more words to Theology. Newton believed the Bible, providing that the code in the natural world and by carefully studying the sacred texts, he could predict the future. He strongly believed the apocalypse might happen in the year 2060.

 

"Everything will end, but I see no reason for its ending sooner." He anticipated a period marked by war and catastrophe followed by the Second Coming of Christ and the beginning of a new, divine era. 

His religious side was largely hidden from the public all the way until 1936, when Sotheby's auctioned off his theological manuscripts.

They are given into the hands of a Jewish scholar before being given to the state of Israel. 7,500 pages in Newton's own handwriting. He did retain unorthodox views of  Christianity by rejecting the Trinity,

The belief in the father, son, and the holy spirit. 

And also struggled towards the attempt by King James II to catholicize the universities which got him elected as a Member of Parliament where he served two brief terms.

Newton also had some other unknown side to him. He spent 25 years secretly studying alchemy  the seek for a method to turn usual metals into gold.

This is a manuscript where Newton wrote down a formula thought to be a step toward concocts the mythical Philosopher's Stone now spilled over in the Harry Potter series. 

Alchemists believed it could even help humans attain immortality. Unfortunately, Newton might have gotten mercury poisoning from all the time spent in the laboratory. 

Examinations of his hair after his death figured out high levels of the toxic compound which scholars believe could account for his mental breakdown in 1693 when he lost control of reality. 

He was like a totally isolated person and he had a very small friend's circle and often he accused the few friends he had of conspiring against him. He affected from insomnia and oppression and prolonged for almost two years. Not too long after he ended his 30-year career at Cambridge. 

In 1696, he moved to London to help run the Royal Mint. Britain's finances were in ruins because of the rampant practice of clipping off pieces of coins. Counterfeiting was also an issue. 

Newton used a scientific precision to improve the accuracy of coinmaking as Warden and then Master of the Mint. He also took it above himself to prosecute culprits, some of whom ended up hanging from the gallows. 

His later years should be spent further cementing his reputation and sometimes that intended trying to erase his rivals from the history books. 

Another ugly dispute mixed up with a brilliant scientist named Robert Hooke, who defended he was the one who gave Newton the concept that led to his theory of gravity and wanted credit. In response, Newton is accused of using his powers as President of the Royal Society to get removing of the only known portrait of Hooke. None exists to this day. 

Newton succeeded in achieving the legacy he wanted. In 1705, Queen Anne of England "Knighted" him during a royal visit to the University of Cambridge, making him Sir Isaac Newton. 

A difficult man who remained isolated still desperately wanted to be remembered. Who threw himself into his work at the cost of all hobbies and never married. Who was a man of science and also, a man of faith. 

Newton died in his sleep on March 20, 1727 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. The Latin lettering on his grave reads: "Here lies that which was mortal of Isaac Newton. His immortal legacy continues to mold our modern world". 

The English poet Alexander Pope inspired by Newton's achievement, he wrote the famous inscription: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night. God said "Let Newton be" and everyone  was light".