| Isaac Newton was an English mathematician
and scientist, one of the greatest who ever lived. His discoveries and
ideas have guided other scientists for nearly three hundred years.
Isaac Newton was born in England on Christmas day in 1642. He studied at Cambridge University and was graduated in 1665. Between 1665 and 1686 he made his most important discoveries. He invented the calculus (a branch of higher mathematics),discovered that white light was really made up of six basic colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet), and developed the idea of universal gravitation. His most famous books are the Principles of Natural Philosophy, which explains his ideas on motion, and optics, which explains his ideas on light. When he was 50 years old, Newton had a nervous breakdown. From that time until his death he did very little scientific work. He became very absent-minded and short-tempered, and was even careless about the way he dressed. He was president of the Royal Society of London, an organization of scientists, for 25 years. Also he was a member of the English Parliament. In 1705, he was made a knight by Queen Anne of England, after which he was known as Sir Isaac Newton. He always remained a very modest and religious man. Although other scientists considered him a genius and the greatest thinker of his time, he is said to have remarked on his deathbed: "If I have seen farther than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." He died in 1727.
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