SIR ISAAC NEWTON

Did you know?

• Isaac Newton was not very keen on school workand preferred reading and making things.
• Newton was the first person to build a reflecting telescope, which made the images seen through a telescope much clearer.
• Newton was the first scientist to be buried at Westminster Abbey. Since then other scientists have been buried there, including Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, and Sir JJ Thompson.
• Newton studied maths, physics and astronomy at Cambridge University. He became Professor of Mathematics and worked at the university for over 30 years.
• Newton was also interested in alchemy – he spent a lot of time trying to discover how to change things like lead and mercury into gold.
• Forces are measured in ‘Newtons’ after Newton’s work on motion.
• Sometimes Newton’s year of birth is reported as 1642 and sometimes as 1643. This is because according to the old (Julian) form of calendar he was born on the 25th December 1642, but under the Gregorian calendar that we use today he was born on the 4th January 1643!