Isaac Newton

     Isaac Newton was a humble mastermind whose work greatly helped scientific studies. John Hudson Tiner wrote a biography on his life entitled Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher.


     Isaac grew up on a farm in England with his mother and grandmother. As a child Isaac enjoyed making models of things around him. Unlike most models of his time his actually worked. He spent a lot of his time drifted away in deep thought. He studied the Bible very much. His stepfather was a minister. He was sent to an academy when he was old enough. Isaac was at the top of his class. His teachers could tell that he was a genius.

     When he had finished school at the academy he went to Cambridge University. Cambridge was composed of fifteen or so colleges. Isaac entered Trinity which was the Bible college. He enjoyed college. He studied many things. He was always inventing or making something new and useful. One such thing was a telescope. He made it all by himself. He had solved the problem with having colors impeding the view. He was also great at mathematics. He could solve almost anything. On a vacation home he solved the questions about gravity and laid down the laws pertaining thereto. He was also made a member of the Royal Society. The Royal Society was a group of the leading minds of the day. He met many of the great scientists of his time. One of his favorites was Robert Boyle. He spent a lot of time with him.

     Isaac taught at Trinity. He gave lectures twice week on math. Later in his life a man by the name of Edmund Halley came to visit him. He had studied the skies but could not solve the way to calculate when comets would reappear. To his surprise Newton had all the answers stowed away! Halley convinced Newton to put all of his discoveries into a book. This Isaac did. He called it Pricipia. He wrote it in Latin so that scholars would not have to wait for it to be translated to read it. It sold very well. He wanted a change in his life so he got a government position. He was the person that ran the mint. This was a hard job because England needed all new coins because the coins England had were not the proper weight because they were so old and used. It was also hard because there were a lot of counterfeit coin makers that had to be caught in order for the process of minting new coins and getting rid of the old ones to run smoothly. Newton got the job done however in record time. He died a few years later.

     Isaac was a true genius as we have seen through what he has done for the scientific world. An interesting fact about most of the great scientists is that they were faithful Christians. They pored over their Bibles and wrote commentaries on different books of the Bible. This is a great book. Sower Series has a large collection of biographies on important people with good character.