Sir Isaac Newton (January 4, 1643 - March 31, 1727), President of the Royal Society, a famous British physicist, and an encyclopedic "all-rounder" , author of "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" and "Optics".
In his paper "Laws of Nature" published in 1687, he described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion. These descriptions established the scientific view of the physical world for the next three centuries and became the basis of modern engineering.
By demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravity, he showed that the motions of ground objects and celestial bodies follow the same natural laws; providing strong support for the heliocentric theory The theory supported and promoted the scientific revolution.
In mechanics, Newton clarified the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum, and proposed Newton's laws of motion. In optics, he invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of color based on observations of prisms diverging white light into the visible spectrum. He also formulated the laws of cooling and studied the speed of sound.
In mathematics, Newton shares the credit of developing calculus with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. He also proved the generalized binomial theorem, proposed "Newton's method" to approach the zero point of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.
In economics, Newton proposed the gold standard system.
Extended information:
One of Newton's widely recognized achievements is the generalized binomial theorem, which applies to any power. He discovered Newton's identities and Newton's method, classified cubic polynomials (cubic polynomials in two variables), made significant contributions to finite difference theory, and used fractional exponents and coordinate geometry for the first time to obtain solutions to the Diophantine equation.
He used logarithms to approach partial sums of harmonic series (a precursor to Euler's summation formula), and for the first time used power series and revert power series with confidence. number. He also discovered a new formula for π.
He was awarded the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics in 1669. Until that day, all members at Cambridge or Oxford were ordained Anglican ministers. However, the conditions for the Lucasian Professorship require that its holder not be active in the church (presumably so that the holder can devote more time to scientific research).
Newton believed that he should be exempted from the conditions of priesthood, which required the permission of Charles II, who accepted Newton's opinion. This avoided a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican beliefs.
Newton believed that light was composed of particles or particles and refracted by accelerating through optically dense media, but he also had to relate them to waves to explain the phenomenon of diffraction of light. Later generations of physicists preferred to use pure light waves to explain diffraction phenomena. Modern ideas about quantum mechanics, photons, and wave-particle duality have only a small similarity with Newton's understanding of light.
Newton’s great achievements in science, together with his simple materialist philosophical views and a set of physical methodological systems that have begun to take shape, have contributed to the development of physics and the entire natural sciences, and to the industry of the 18th century. Revolution, social and economic changes and the development of mechanical materialism have had a huge impact. Here are just a few outlines.
Newton’s philosophical views are inseparable from his foundational achievements in mechanics. He tried to explain all natural phenomena from the perspective of mechanics, which formed Newton’s spontaneous materialism in philosophy. At the same time, it also led to the prevalence of mechanism. In fact, Newton regarded all chemical, thermal, electrical and other phenomena as "things related to attraction or repulsion".
For example, he was the first to elaborate on chemical affinity, describing chemical replacement reactions as the competition between two attractions; he believed that "heat is generated through movement or fermentation"; gunpowder explosions are also violent collisions of sulfur, carbon and other particles. , decomposition, heat release, expansion process, etc.
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia---Isaac Newton