The “Man Behind the Motion,” Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1642…or was it 1643? Google Isaac’s birthday a time or two and you may find conflicting dates! The funny thing is that both are correct…in their own time period. How, you ask? Well, Isaac was born at a time when the British Empire followed the Julian calendar, appropriately called Old Style or O.S. And when the world switched to the New Style (N.S.) Gregorian calendar in 1752, so did Newton's birthday, moving it from December 25, 1642 to January 4, 1643! You can ask your history teachers about that. But really, it’s not the date(s) of his birth that’s important, but rather what he did during the years of his life.

Newton mastered calculus, optics and chemistry, but what he is best known for are his Universal Law of Gravity and Three Laws of Motion.

Now, most folks know ole Newt for discovering gravity, which is said to have happened when a falling apple hit him on the head. But Newton was also the “man” when it came to laying down the laws of the physical Universe. So not only did he write the laws themselves, but he also figured out how they worked and why. That’s why FMA believes Sir Isaac Newton would probably want to be remembered as the “Man Behind the Motion.” Here is his story:

Born in Lincolnshire, England, little Sir Isaac Newton came into the world as a premie. He was fatherless (as his dad died before Newton’s birth) and rarely saw his mom (as she remarried and was raised by his grandma). You could say, he started off small and kinda ticked off, but grew to become a scientific giant.

At age 17, Isaac was taken to the farm (his family’s business) to learn about real life. But farming was not his thing, so he hit the books instead and he headed to Cambridge to attend Trinity College in 1661. There he got into math and all that goes along with it (which, if you think about it, is everything in the entire Universe). In fact, he became so obsessed he forgot to eat (except apples of course) and barely remembered to sleep.

He focused on the work of his heroes like Galileo, Copernicus, and Keplar, tying their ideas together to create his own. In fact he once said, “If I have seen further than other men, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” And soon the man became a giant himself.

In 1666 Newton published a fancy math paper which gave him serious credibility. On a roll, he then wrote the Principia (the book where he revealed his Universal Law of Gravity and his Three Laws of Motion). This man invented high powered telescopes, created the theories of light and color, became the Master of the London Mint and was also knighted by Queen Anne!

Eventually Newton grew ill and passed away in 1727. And while Newton was somewhat of a loner, you could say, he touched more lives through the development of science than any other individual in history. He explained the physical laws that have sent rovers to Mars and even help us build better half-pipes.

Thanks, Newt. Props to you for being the Man Behind the Motion!

Want to know more about Newton’s heroes such as Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler?
Galileo Galilei
Nicolaus Copernicus
Johannes Kepler