Sir Isaac Newton, The Most Important Figure In The Scientific Revolution
Public DomainA 1689 portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, one of history’s most influential scientists — and one of the smartest people in the world.
A few hundred years before Einstein shared his brilliance with the world, Sir Isaac Newton laid the groundwork for much of modern science and mathematics. For a man of his time, his intelligence and insights into the natural world were nothing short of revolutionary, making him one of the smartest people in history.
In 1687, Newton published his most famous work, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, more commonly referred to simply as Principia, which fundamentally changed scholars’ understanding of the physical universe. It was a detailed, complex work in which Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, describing the movement of objects on Earth and in space with unprecedented precision.
Newton’s theories — often referred to as laws, though that isn’t quite accurate, scientifically speaking — explained not only why objects fall to the ground but also why planets orbit the Sun. In the 17th century, these were groundbreaking ideas, and they changed the way scientists would approach the world going forward.
But Newton’s contributions to academics weren’t limited to physics. He was also a brilliant mathematician, playing a critical role in the development of calculus (which was, notably, simultaneously and independently introduced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). In particular, Newton’s approach to calculus made it possible to describe change and motion, which would become crucial to future developments in science and engineering.
Newton likewise conducted extensive research in optics. He discovered that white light is composed of a spectrum of colors. In 1704, he released another work, Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, in which he demonstrated his concepts through his famous prism experiments to describe the nature of light and color.
What sets Newton apart as one of history’s greatest geniuses is simply how long his ideas, such as the theory of gravity, have remained unchallenged despite significant advances in technology and science in general.
