Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born on Christmas Day of 1642 at the farm of his mother’s parents near Grantham in Lincolnshire, after his father had died. He was raised by his maternal grandparents and then enrolled in Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661, to study mathematics under Isaac Barrow (1630-1677). After completing his degree in 1665, he returned home for nearly two years to escape an outbreak of the plague. During this isolation, he began to formulate his ideas about universal gravitation after making a connection between the fall of an apple and the motion of the Moon.
Legend has it that Newton’s interest turned to gravity when he was struck on the head by a falling apple. Is it an apocryphal story?
I'll be saying more on this topic in my forthcoming post.
