Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest minds in the history of mankind. He changed the world and our understanding of the world as well as the universe to an extent. There are numerous Sir Isaac Newton major accomplishments. Here are the most notable ones.
1. Isaac Newton was a Professor.
He specialized in optics. His research and studying of optics led him to study the refraction of light. His experiment with a glass prism was the first of its kind to split a light beam and it was only then he discovered that the color of a particular object is due to a property of light, later illustrated in defining light as a multicolored spectrum. He discovered that light was indeed composed of particles and that white light was not exactly white but a mix of various colored rays. Those colors formed the spectrum, an example of which is the rainbow. His theory about color was rejected and attracted some very staunch criticism. His work, ‘Opticks: A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light’, published in 1672, was not acceptable to the Royal Society. Newton was obviously proven to be accurate in his assessments.
2. Developed the theory of gravitation as we all know it.
His tryst with gravitation is often simplified with the chronicled event of an apple falling from a tree but what most people don’t acknowledge or even know that much before he had that eureka moment, Newton had been hypothesizing about the movement of the moon, planetary motions and more. Newton came up with a theory that planetary orbits were a result of a centripetal force. Newton pursued his hypothesis, proved it to be a theory and then published his observations in ‘Philosophiae, Natrualis, Principia Mathematica’, a comprehensive account of his theory of gravitation and mechanics.
3. Developed the three laws of motion.
Following up on his work illustrating the science of mechanics, Newton expanded the scope of gravitational force and later developed the three laws of motion. His theory on the laws of motion caused a ripple in our understanding of physics. There were plagiarism charges against Newton, posed by Hooke, that it was his idea but scientists of the time ruled in favor of Newton as the proofs furnished were entirely original and Hooke had not made any progress to theorize his ideas. Sir Isaac Newton has inspired innumerable scientists over the centuries and is one of the greatest icons of all time.