Isaac Newton, a name that may still be seen today cut into the wood of
a window sill at King’s School, Grantham, where he studied Grammar and Latin.
At first, Isaac Newton seemed to be rather a dull boy, and not very good at his
lessons. But he used to use his hands and used to make little machines such as
windmills. He caught mice and compelled them to drive some of his little
machines.
One day at school, Newton was kicked by a bigger boy who was higher up
in the class than he was himself. The kicking made Newton very angry and he
turned on the bigger boy and gave him a good beating. He also decided to beat
him at lessons, and this made him start to work harder. After that, he improved
at his studies, and so perhaps the big boy who kicked Newton did a service to
the world.
Newton went to Cambridge University where he studied Mathematics and
Science. He started to make discoveries in Mathematics while still at college.
However, Newton did not confine his studies to Mathematics. He became very
interested in the behavior of light, and he showed that sunlight, which appears
to us as white light, can be split up into the colours of the rainbow.
One day at school, Newton watched an apple as it fell from a tree to the ground. He began to wonder why it moved towards the earth, and not upwards towards the sky. After a great deal of thought on this subject, he produced his theory of gravitation and published it in his great book ‘Principia’. He showed that everybody attracts every other body. The sun and the earth attract each other, and so we do not fly away from the sun into the darkness and coldness of outer space; the moon and the earth also attract each other, which is why the moon stays near us and does not rush away, leaving us in darkness every night.
3 Newton’s head was usually ‘so full of ideas and problems that he was
often quite lost in thought. Many stories are told of his absent-mindedness.
Once, he was entertaining some guests at dinner, he went out of the room
to fetch some more wine. For a long time, his friends awaited his return, but neither
the host nor wine appeared. At last, they went to look for him and found him
hard at work in his study. The wine, the dinner, and his ‘guests were all
forgotten.
On another occasion, he invited one of his friends to dinner, but when
the man arrived, the great philosopher was not there. The guest sat down to
wait and repeatedly looked hungrily at the dinner table not far away. Two
places were laid and everything seemed ready for an excellent meal.
After having waited a long time, the guest could wait no longer. He sat
down at the table and enjoyed a splendid ‘inner alone after which he returned
to his other chair and sat down once more to wait for his missing host.
At last, Newton came in. He looked at his friend in a puzzled manner and
realized that he had entirely forgotten him. After shaking his hand and
apologizing, he turned to the dinner table and noticed that someone had already
dined. “I‟m sorry,” he said, apologizing once again.
“I see that I have eaten my dinner, I certainly ought to have waited for you.”
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