Synopses & Reviews
SIR ISAAC NEWTON SIR ISAAC NEWTON A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WORK BY S. BRQDETSKY M. A., F. R. A. S. FriOFLSbOR OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS WITH A PORTRAIT, A MAP AND IO DIAGRAMS METHUEN CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W. C. LONDON INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF, MY MOTHER PREFACE THIS brief account of the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton does not claim to be a critical biography. The authors object has been to present the main features of Newtons life and his chief contributions to knowledge, in a manner that will be understood by a reader who possesses a very moderate grounding in the elements of science. Far too little attention is paid nowadays to the heroes of science, and it is hoped that the present volume will help to give to considerable numbers of schoolboys and schoolgirls, as well as to children of a larger growth, some insight into the life, personality and achieve ments of the greatest man of science England has produced. Needless to say the author is indebted to many standard books, especially those by Sir David Brewster, and to a large number of scattered articles on Newton and his work. His thanks are due to Mr. Christopher Turnor of Stoke Rochford for kind permission to use the marble copy of the famous bust by Roubilliac for the frontispiece. S. B. LEEDS February, 1927 CONTENTS HAP1FR P G I. THE LINCOLNSHIRE CHILD, 1642-1661 . I II. THE CAMBRIDGE STUDENT, 1661-1665 . 13 III. THE DAWN OF MATHEMATICAL DISCOVERY, 1665 21 IV, THE GERM OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION, l666 29 V. THE ANALYSIS OF LIGHT AND COLOUR, 1666 53 VI. THE OPTICAL DECADE, 1668-1678 . . 62 VII. THE GRAVITATIONAL DECADE, 1678-1687 8l VIII. THE PRINCIPIA, 1687 .... 101 IX. THE TRANSITIONAL DECADE,1687-1696 . 122 X. THE GUARDIAN OF THE NATIONS COINAGE, 1696-1727 130 XI. THE DOYEN OF BRITISH SCIENCE, 1703-1727 137 XII. THE END, 1727 153 W . o 1 2 a CO 8 O CO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS SIR ISAAC NEWTON . . . Frontispiece From a copy of a bust by Koubtlhac, n the possession of Christopher Tumor, Esq., at btoke Rochford FIGURE PAGE MAP OF NEWTONS PART OF LINCOLNSHIRE . 6 From a drawing by 4. E. Taylor 1. AREA OF CIRCLE 24 2. KEPLERS LAWS 40 3. CENTRAL ACCELERATION IN CIRCLE . . 49 4. SPHERICAL ABERRATION 55 5. SPECTRUM 59 6. NEWTONS RINGS 75 7. FALLING BODY AND ROTATING EARTH, . 85 8. CAUSE OF PRECESSION . . . . 115 9. TIDES Il6 10. PATH OF PERIODIC COMET .... 117 When Newton saw an apple fall, he found In that slight startle from his contemplation Tis said for Ill not answer above ground For any sages creed or calculation A mode of proving that the earth turned round In a most natural whirl, called gravitation And this is the sole mortal who could grapple, Since Adam, with a fall, or with an apple. Man fell with apples, and with apples rose, II this be true for we must deem the mode In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road, A thing to counterbalance human woes For ever since immortal man hath glowd With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon Steam-engines will conduct him to the moon. LORD BYRON Don Juan, Canto the Tenth, I and II. SIR ISAAC NEWTON CHAPTER I THE LINCOLNSHIRE CHILD, 1642-1661 At first, the Iniant, Mewling and pukmg in the nurses arms. And then, the whining School-boy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then, the Lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made tohis mistress eye-brow. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE As You Like It. IN August, 1642, the sword was drawn in the armed struggle between King Charles I and his Parliament. For nearly twenty years the struggle raged first the King suffered complete defeat and Parliament became the supreme arbiter of the destinies of the nation then Parliaments power waned and became completely subject to the royal will of Charles II, restored to the powers and prerogatives of his less fortunate father...