Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), physicist and mathematicians, is a famous philosopher ever known in the field of science. He was born on 25th December 1642 at Woolsthorpe in England (Richard, 1993). Isaac’s father died few moths just before he was born. He was left behind by his mother who married another man and had to leave with his grandmother. Two years afterwards, Isaac joined a school in Grantham. While at school, he was fascinated with chemicals and lodged with local apothecary. At the age of seventeen, he often returned home and took care of the farm; however, he was not successful in farming. In 1661, he joined Trinity College in Cambridge. During his first three years at the college, he paid his way by cleaning rooms and waiting for fellows and the wealthier students. Fortunately, Isaac became a scholar in 1664 through election guaranteeing him four years of financial support. The university was closed during the summer of 1665 due to the plague spreading across Europe and Newton returned home (Richard, 1993).
While at home, Isaac spent two years dedicating his time on problems in physics and mathematics. It was noted later that it was at this time when he first understood the theory of gravitation, the theory of optics and a lot of mathematics such as integral calculus, differential calculus and infinite series. However, he was reluctant to publish anything about them. Upon his return to Cambridge in 1667, he started to work on alchemy and in 1668, Nicolas Mercator wrote a book on some methods of dealing with infinite series (Brodetsky, 2007). Immediately, Isaac published a treatise, De Analysi, expounding his own elaborate results.
Isaac’s first chief public achievement in the field of science was the invention, design and construction of a reflecting telescope. It was a real technological advance in telescope and this guaranteed his election to membership in the Royal Society. Sharper images were given by the mirror than were possible with the use of a large lens since a lens concentrated different colors at to some extent different distances, a phenomenon called chromatic aberration. Isaac became the University of Cambridge Member of Parliament in 1689, a position he retained between 1701 and 1702. In 1696, he moved to London as Warden of Royal Mint and became Master of the Mint in 1699 (an office he held until his death). Newton became a member of the Royal Society of London in 1671. With his science becoming increasing accepted all over the world especially in 1714 after peace restoration, Newton became the most regarded natural philosopher. He spent his last decades revising his principal works, defending himself against critics, carrying out his official duties and polishing his studies of ancient history. He was diffident, modest and a man of simple tastes. Isaac was annoyed by opposition, harboured resentment and was generous to friends but harsh towards enemies (Natalie, 2008).
Apart from physics and theology, Newton did numerous inventions in other fields such as mathematics, chemistry among others. As a student of mathematics, Isaac demonstrated his brilliance. He contributed to almost entire mathematical branches, but is particularly credited for his contributions to recent mathematical problems such as finding area enclosed by two curves, that is integration, and geometrical analysis of tangents to curve, that is differentiation. In addition, he discovered the techniques of finding solutions to curvature problems, clearly shown in Isaac’s “inverse method of fluxions” and “method of fluxions” similar to those of Leibniz. Newton, later in his life, regretted the algebraic style of recent mathematical progress and instead preferred Classical Greeks’ geometrical methods which he regarded as more rigorous and clearer. He also made outstanding contributions on pure mathematics. In 1704, he published, with Optics, a track on the curves quadrature (integration) and the other on the cubic curves classification.
Isaac left a lot of manuscripts on the subjects of chemistry and alchemy, closely related subjects. Most of the manuscripts were extracts from dictionaries, books, bibliographies and a few are original (Natalie, 2008). Newton started intensive experimentation in 1669 trying to find out the meanings that he believed were virtually hidden in alchemical mysticism and obscurity (Richard, 1993). He sought understanding the structure and nature of all matter, developed from the “solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles” that he believed were the creation of God. Moreover, in the Queries appended to Optics and in the On the Nature of Acids (1710), he wrote an incomplete chemical force theory that became known a century after his death. Isaac besides discoveries in physics, chemistry and mathematics, he also contributed on other fields such as mechanics, historical and chronological studies, religious convictions and personality among other publications.
In conclusion, Sir Isaac Newton is famous scholar who pioneered the new dimension in the field of science. His contributions are still used to address the contemporary problems in different fields of mathematics and science. He did not marry and died in London on March 31, 1727 and was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey.
Newton was a modest mathematician and did not use his talent to project himself as more important than other people in the society as well as in his own field of study. Because of his professional reservation, it took him a very long time to publish even his most genius of works especially in mathematics. This led to a dispute between him and his co inventor of infinitesimal calculus, Gottfried Leibniz, who was also a great mathematician at the time. Newton’s discoveries of advanced methods in infinitesimal calculus brought great advancements in theoretical mathematics. This as William (2009) says, continues to have a great role in this field of mathematics. Although principles of infinitesimal calculus had been used by scholars, especially mathematicians earlier than Newton’s time, Newton’s studies advanced this science and built a broad and firm platform on which future studies on this would be build. Although the use of infinitesimal calculus was endangered with extinction for a number of centuries since Newton made the marvelous contribution, due to the advancement of other areas of mathematics as well as technology, Mathematician Abraham Robinson brought it to life again in the 1960s by a re-invention he called the non-standard analysis. This approach works in a way that it results to conclusion relevant and likened to the real infinitesimal calculus. Newton was very aversive to criticism especially professional criticism and it is believed that this is the reason he did not publish his research materials immediately. None the less, Isaac Newton was a brilliant mathematician whose contribution to almost any field of mathematics that was available at his time is a great asset to the field of mathematics.
Apart from infinitesimal calculus, another field of mathematics where his prominent talent shed light and strengthened was the use and application of binomial theorem. Isaac Newton made colossal contributions to this important field of mathematics which is still a great asset today in many field. In particular, he developed the generalized binomial theorem which came to be regarded as the Newton's generalized binomial theorem. Newton not only generalized the binomial theorem to allow for greater flexibility in subjecting a wider variety of exponents such as non negative integers to exponents, but also laid a foundation upon which later mathematicians would further generalize the same theorem. This allowed for better and more useful application of the binomial theorem in modern day problems (Allan). Sir Isaac Newton also worked out and developed the famous Newton's identities, a formula used to solve problems of the nature of symmetric polynomials. These and other numerous inventions and works such Newton Methods, Euler’s formula, power series and harmonic series are as modern today as they were during his time.
Isaac was a great mathematician and scientist whose work both in theoretical mathematics as well as applied mathematics will continue to be of use in centuries to come. His self taught knowledge in geometry allowed him to incorporate geometric principles to problems that no other mathematicians would have of. For instance, according to Arthur (2008), the main difference between his works in infinitesimal calculus is the fact that he applied his geometric understanding in developing the solutions. However, even with this approach, his works in this field came to be of great use in the development of infinitesimal calculus and in the advancements that followed in later centuries, such as the works of Robinson in the 1960s.
Social set up
Newton was a brilliant mathematician and scholar in late 16th century and late 17th century. Not only was he a great scholar, but he was also a devout Christian. However, Newton did not want to be too involved with religious matter especially in a public way. Unfortunately, at the time, the church and academic institutions were tightly coupled and in fact the academic institutions of the time were more of subsets of the religious institutions. Due to this, people holding high positions in the academic institutions were supposed to also be officials in the church leadership systems. This was a hurdle that Newton had to severally overcome or avoid as he gained several leadership positions in the academic realm. For example, to be the coveted Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, one had to also be ordained as an priest in the church. As a result, when Newton was appointed to this chair, he found himself almost with no choice but to accept the offer, but managed to convince the then prince to exempt him because the priesthood of an academic professor was only a ceremonial role. His request was accepted and he managed to take the professorship without being ordained into a priest. However, this was not the only time he had managed to abscond being ordained, (Jackson, 2006). For example, earlier, when he had avoided being ordained by postponing the process forever because the kind of ordaining that was required did not have a particular time within which he had to be ordained. But when it came tot taking the position of the Lucasian Professor of mathematics, he the ordaining was to be immediately and thus he sought other ways to avoid it.
Application of his works
His works on binomial theorem and his improvements on the same continue to be of use today. For instance, there are a lot of areas where the application of binomial theorem is inevitable, even in very modern areas such as computing. One such area is in calculating probabilities that depend on numerous and very distributed variables such as in predictions of the way the economy of a nation will behave in the next few years. To be able to come up with realistic predictions, binomial theorem is used in this field. The other important area of application of binomial theorem is in weather forecasting. Advanced weather forecasting methods owe their success to the advancements in binomial methods. Even in computing, binomial methods has been very useful such as in distribution of IP addresses. With binomial theorem the automatic distribution of IP addresses is not only possible but also the distribution of virtual IP addresses. This can be sued as a measure to enhance information security by providing shadow IP addresses fro transactional websites or sessions to hide the real address and thus avoid foot stepping, a method of hacking by computer hackers. Binomial theorem has also been of great use in the architecture industry in design of infrastructure and the calculations of their magnitudes and thus delivering accurate estimates of not only their costs but also the time required to construct them. With advanced tools using binomial theorem, it is possible to measure the magnitude of even colossal projects. This delivers very high quality planning and minimizes on wastages. For contractors, it is a priceless tool to help in ensuring that the costing of a project is competent enough to deliver profits but also competent enough to avoid unnecessarily high estimates that would scare the client away.
With all these uses, it can be argued that the works of Newton was not in vain even in a modern world that ours is today. The uses of binomial theorem are many and varied and they depend on what one intends to achieve. Newton’s Generalization of this theorem allowed it to be used in almost any situation to provide solutions. With time, many more uses will come to be found and his name will continue to shine in al those magnificent things that will continue to be inspired by his great works. Isaac Newton remains legend even centuries after his work. The fact that computers are here to stay and that his works are relevant even in a computerized world means that he will remain a legend for many years to come.
Apart from his works in binomial theorem, his works in infinitesimal calculus also continue to be useful in the theoretical mathematics across many regions. His humble but genius contributions in theoretic mathematics have been of great value to much mathematics and will continue to inspire many more to come. Sir Isaac Newton would be proud of his works today if he was here due to its magnificent contributions to many areas of life. His name will continue to ring in many years for generations to come and will continue to be an icon. The modern mathematics owes its success to such brilliant people.
Works Cited
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Brodetsky S. Sir Isaac Newton. London: Read Books, 2007.
Allan, J.D. The History of Applied ans Theoretical Mathmatics. London: Oxford, 1997.
Arthur, H.L. "The Great Names That Made Modern Maths Possible." Journal os Academic Studies (2008): 23-27.
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