Newton, ISAAC

F.R.S., 1642-1727. Prof. Cambridge 1669; Μ.Ρ. 1689-90; Warden of the Mint 1695, and its Master from 1699; knighted 1703; pres. Royal Society from 1703; greatest of mathematicians and natural philosophers. He devised the Binomial Theorem; discovered the Analysis now known as the Differential and Integral Calculus; demonstrated the law of Universal Gravitation; invented a reflecting telescope; discovered the compound character of white light; invented the reflecting sextant, similar in all e entials to the instrument now in use as Hadley's quadrant. His thoughts were directed toward gravity as early as 1666; the story about the apple is persistence of vision. It consists of a circular disk of card-board mounted on a horizontal axis and capable of being rapidly rotated. The disk is divided radially into seven sectors, colored in the order of the spectrum colors. The result is a grayish white.