Issaak Newton

Newton, one of the greatest scientists of all times, was born in 1642 in the little village in Lincolnshire, England. His father was a farmer and died before Newton was born. His mother was a clever woman whom he always loved.

When Newton was 15, his uncle removed him from school because he wanted to make a farmer of him. But a young Isaac was a bad farmer and his uncle sent him to the University of Cambridge where he studied mathematics and received his degree in 1665. After graduation from the University he became a professor of Mathematics and lectured at Cambridge for more than 30 years.

Then the university was closed because of the danger of plague and Newton went home for eighteen months. It was most important period in his life when he made his three great discoveries — the discoveries of the differential calculuses, of the nature of white light, and of the law of gravitation.

These discoveries are still important for the modern science. Newton had always been interested in the problems of light. Many people saw colours of a rainbow but only Newton showed, by his experiments, that white light consists of these colours.

It is interesting how he discovered the law gravitation. Once, as he sat at the garden, his attention was drawn by the fall of an apple. Many people saw such an usual thing before.

But it was Newton who asked himself a question: "Why does that apple fall perpendicularly to the ground? Why doesn't it go sidewards or upwards?" The answer to this question was the theory of gravitation, discovered by Newton.

In 1684 Newton published his famous book the “Principia” in which he explained the movement of the planets and laid down the law of universal gravitation. This book made a great contribution to Physics and Mathematics: the publication of the “Principia” was compared to a sunrise, but Newton himself was always modest.

Newton was not only theorist but a great inventor, too: he invented a mirror telescope. The demonstration of the mirror telescope made a great impression on the contemporaries and in 1672 Newton was elected a member of the Royal Scientific Society. In 1695 Newton was appointed an inspector at the Royal Mint; there he was in charge of coining new English money.

In 1703 Newton was elected a President of the Royal Scientific Society. For the last time he attended its meeting in February, 1727. On March 20, the same year he died at the age of 84 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. There is a monument to Newton in Trinity College at Cambridge with the inscription: “Newton Who Surpassed All Men of Science”.

Notes:

to draw — привлекать

sidewards — в сторону
upwards — вверх
abbey — аббатство

2. Переведите следующие слова и выражения: ученая степень, чума, открытие, дифференциальное исчисление, закон всемирного тяготения, радуга, перпендикулярно, движение планет, великий вклад, научное общество.