Sir Issac Newton ( ) Mathematician Physicist Astrologer Alchemist Knight
The year is 1642; What can we describe? Free fall and Projectile Motion Planetary Orbits Inclined Planes, Levers, Simple Machines The Tides A Few Others (Buoyancy, Optics, etc.)
What can we fully explain? Essentially, NOTHING!! Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad... Two properties: Inertia and acceleration First attempt: Rene Descartes; had lots of good math, mostly lousy physics
Newton: the early years Born on Christmas Eve, father died before birth, Mother moved away, raised by grandparents Newton tries to run the family farm – inept Enters Trinity college (Cambridge) in 1661 “Work study student” in the mess hall.
Making his bones: the binomial theorem Some calculations very hard to do, in particular, division and roots. Approximation procedure: (1 + x) N ≈ 1 + x N for small N √(1.02) = ( ) 0.5 ≈ 1 +.5(.02) = 1.01 calculator says Made him relatively famous
A great year 1665 Plague hits London; Newton moves to farm for a year and a half. Is bored; invents: Dynamics Calculus Optics Discovers Gravity