Essay Database

Isaac Newton's life can be divided into three quite distinct periods. The first is his boyhood days from 1643 up to his appointment to a chair in 1669. The second period from 1669 to 1687 was the highly productive period in which he was Lucasian professor at Cambridge. The third period (nearly as long as the other two combined) saw Newton as a highly paid government official in London with little further interest in mathematical research. Isaac Newton was …

…of younger disciples was all but absolute. Newton could not abide contradiction or controversy; his quarrels with Hooke provided a single example. Later disputes, as president of the Royal Society, Newton used all the forces he could muster. In the end, the actions of the Society were little more than extensions of Newton's will, and until his death he dominated the landscape of science without rival. He died in London on March 20, 1727 (March 31, New Style).