Newton's Reign

It is sometimes hard to realize how far Issac Newton was ahead of his time. He was born 381 years ago. His scientific contributions were mostly in the time period from 1664, when he was 20 years old, until 1707, when he was 63 years old.

Only 13 of the chemical elements had been discovered at the time (one more would be discovered before his death), and the periodic table of the elements was about two centuries in the future. The germ theory of disease and modern genetics were centuries away. A theory of evolution, even Lamarkian evolution, was more than a century away. The Industrial Revolution was still more than a century away. Electromagnetism and thermodynamics hadn't been worked out in his lifetime. Telescopes (he invented the first practical reflecting telescope) and printing presses were relatively recent inventions. They were still burning witches. Gunpowder had been known in Europe for about four hundred years in his lifetime, but was just starting to become decisive militarily in his lifetime. He lived through the brief interregnum called the Common wealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, during which the British Isles was a republic without a reigning monarch. 

Newtonian mechanics, Newtonian gravity, and Newton's observations about optics went unchallenged and unamended for about 250 years. Scientists and engineers still use them on a daily basis, despite knowing that general relativity, special relativity, and quantum mechanics limit the range of their applicability.

The laws of physics he invented are still taught in high school and freshman college level physics classes. He co-invented calculus, which is still taught in high school and freshman and sophomore level college classes (although the notation of the independent co-inventor of calculus, Leibniz, rather than his own clunky notation, is used today).

Not all parts of Newton's legacy were equally illustrious. He was also a Unitarian theologian and an alchemist, and devoted almost as much time in his life to those ultimately fruitless projects, as he did to science and mathematics. He was also a member of Parliament, ran the Royal Mint for many years, was knighted, and led the Royal Society for twenty-four years. He never married and is not reputed to have had any children.