Then he studied the results and used what he had learned to design new experiments. He used methods he had learned as a boy in making things. Newton used his great skill in mathematics to form a better understanding of the world and the universe. In doing so, he found the answers to some of the greatest mysteries of science. To escape the disease, Newton returned to the family farm. STEVE EMBER: At that time, a deadly plague was spreading across England. Newton completed his university studies five years later, in sixteen sixty-five. So he helped the young man enter Cambridge University to study mathematics. He spent hours visiting a bookstore in town, instead of selling his vegetables in the market.Īn uncle decided that Newton would do better as a student than as a farmer. He spent his time solving mathematical problems, instead of taking care of the crops. It soon became clear, however, that the boy was not a good farmer. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Newton left school to help on the family farm. In a short time, Newton became the top student at the school. Newton decided to get even by getting higher marks than the boy who kicked him. The boy was one of the best students in the school. Strangely, Newton became a much better student after a boy kicked him in the stomach. From the difference between the two jumps, he made his own measure of the strength of the wind. Then he measured how far he could jump with the wind in his face. On a windy day, he measured how far he could jump with the wind at his back. As a boy, for example, he decided to find a way to measure the speed of the wind. STEVE EMBER: Newton also enjoyed finding new ways to answer questions or solve problems. Yet he liked to make things, such as kites and clocks and simple machines. His mother married again a few years later. He had one of the most powerful minds in history. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England, on December twenty-fifth, sixteen forty-two. He found and proved the answers for which they searched. Isaac Newton built on the ideas of these two scientists and others. Galileo continued and expanded the work of Copernicus. It led to a completely new understanding of how the universe worked. He lived a hundred years before Newton.Ĭopernicus had begun a scientific revolution. Another of the giants was the Polish scientist Nicholas Copernicus. Galileo died the same year Newton was born. STEVE EMBER: One of those giants was the great Italian scientist, Galileo. Late in his life, Newton said of his work: "If I saw further than other men, it was because I stood on the shoulders of giants. Newton also developed one of the most powerful tools of mathematics. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Much of today's science of physics is based on Newton's discovery of the three laws of motion and his theory of gravity. Today we tell about one of the world's greatest scientists, Isaac Newton. STEVE EMBER: And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is Shirley Griffith.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |