Today In History: March 20 1727

Death of Isaac Newton

His enormous prestige earned him the title of Sir and upon his death receiving State honors. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

On March 20, 1727 died the scientist whose theories marked the path of physics to the relativity of Einstein, Isaac Newton. In 1661 he joined Trinity College, Cambridge, where his main mentor would be the mathematician Isaac Barrow. Encouraged by him and by the ideas of Galileo, Kepler and Descartes Newton was given to the study of mathematics. In 1666 his findings revolutionised the world of science: he invented infinitesimal calculus (whose discovery was disputed with Leibniz), showed that color is a property of light and not objects and discovered universal gravitation. Years later he would invent the reflecting telescope, which would earn him membership in the Royal Society. His Principia Mathematica of 1687, which describes the three laws of motion and formulated the law of universal gravitation, would become the foundation of modern science.