Isaac Newton

Physicist

Birthday January 4, 1643

Birth Sign Capricorn

Birthplace Woolsthorpe, England

DEATH DATE Mar 31, 1727 (84)

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About

Physicist and mathematician who became one of the most influential scientists of all time, formulating the three basic laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He built the first practical reflecting telescope and his work helped Enlightenment thinkers rebel against Church theology. 

Before Fame

His mother wanted him to be a farmer, but the headmaster of King's School, Henry Stokes, convinced her to let him complete his education. 

Trivia

He and Gottfried Leibniz invented infinitesimal calculus, and his book, Principia Mathematical, became the basis of modern mathematics. 

Family Life

He was born three months after the death of his father, a farmer also named Isaac; he had two stepsisters named Mary and Hannah and a stepbrother named Benjamin. 

Associated With

Albert Einstein had a picture of Newton on his study wall.