Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton, PRS (25 December 1642 (OS) – 20 March 1727 (OS) / 4 January, 1643 (NS) – 31 March 1727 (NS) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and alchemist. Recognised as a genius of the highest order, he is widely regarded as the most influential scientist in history. He wrote the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (published 5 July 16871), where he described universal gravitation and, via his laws of motion, laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. Newton also shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for the development of differential calculus. While they both discovered calculus nearly contemporaneously, their work was not a collaboration.

See also

• World Almanac's Ten Most Influential People of the Second Millennium
• Isaac Newton's occult studies
• History of calculus