The World Of Isaac Newton

Description

For centuries Isaac Newton was regarded as the father of the Enlightenment and, until Albert Einstein, was undisputedly the greatest scientist in history. This book describes his career and the world he knew: the people, places and events that shaped him. It describes the birth of modern science in his lifetime (1642-1727), set against the background of everyday life in early modern Britain. There are three areas of focus: Isaac Newton's interests and the fascinating people he knew: for example Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke (with whom there was a traumatic relationship), Edmond Halley (the closest person he had to a friend), Charles II and Queen Anne. Besides mathematics, physics and astronomy, Newton spent years studying alchemy and the Bible - leading him to calculate that the world will end in 2060. Later, he became Warden of the Mint at the Tower of London and reformed British coinage - for which Queen Anne gave him a knighthood - chasing counterfeit coiners like an eighteenth-century Sherlock Holmes. Secondly, major events relate Newton's story to national history: he was born just after the outbreak of the English Civil War, was at grammar school during the Cromwell's rule, and came to prominence after the Restoration of Charles II. He kept a low profile during the Glorious Revolution and died in the year that George II became king. Lastly, the book describes the changes in everyday life that Newton witnessed: the country went from being agricultural to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and from being a cultural backwater to a United Kingdom on the brink of empire. There were innovations in food, fashion, travel and literature. Newspapers, coffee houses, dining rooms, toll-roads, insurance companies and periwigs were among the new inventions Newton would have known