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Newton, Sir Isaac, 1642-1727 (Knight, natural philosopher and mathematician)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1642 - 1727

Biography

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, on 25 December 1642. He attended Grantham Grammar School, 1654-1656, before matriculating at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661 (B.A., 1665), where he became a Fellow in 1667. In 1669 he was appointed Lucasian Professor at the university. Newton was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, and served as its President, 1703-1727. He was M.P. for Cambridge University, 1689 and 1701-1702. Newton's work on optics was published in 1704, and his research on the laws of motion appeared in his Principia, published in 1687. His other work included theological writings and the use of astronomy to try to amend ancient chronology. He was knighted in 1705, and died at Kensington, London, on 20 March 1727.

Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:

 Fonds

Charles Mason: Correspondence

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8564
Scope and Contents

Letters to Charles Mason and other papers, including an extract from the account book of Goodwich, Bishop of Ely; 'An epitome of Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks'; and a printed notice of 24 June 1811, regarding the installation of the Duke of Gloucester as Chancellor of Cambridge University. All are letters to Mason unless otherwise stated.

Dates: 1700-1811
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Giovanni Rizzetti: Challenge to Newton's Optical Experiments

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9282
Scope and Contents

The volume contains a draft letter from Rizzetti to Christino Martinelli, c.1720, with a description of Newton's experiment leading to the discovery of the aberration of light, and Rizzetti's experiment contradicting Newton's results; and two diagrams on refraction (p.13), the 'Anatomical composition of the eye' and the 'Aberration in telescopes with different lenses'. There are references to Descartes, Huygens and Tschirnhaus.

Dates: 1720 (Circa)
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Isaac Newton letter to William Wright

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.10235
Dates: 12 Oct 1712
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

James Speare: Remarks on Newton

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.5951
Scope and Contents

138 folios. Fos 2, 3, 13-22, 26-33, 46-54, 63-67, 74 and 92-138 are blank. On fo. 1v: 'F. W. Lodington Ex dono J. Speare 1816'.

Dates: 1797
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

John Maynard Keynes: Lecture on Newton

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8536
Scope and Contents

A holograph manuscript of a talk on Sir Isaac Newton delivered by John Maynard Keynes at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1942. There is an accompanying typescript of a talk delivered by Geoffrey Keynes at the Newton Tercentenary celebrations in the Hall of Trinity College, 17 July 1946, and a newscutting from the Times literary supplement, 1971, regarding J.M. Keynes.

Dates: 1942-1971
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Robert Boyle: Letters from him

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8524
Scope and Contents

Robert Boyle to Captain Thornhill, 14 November 1678, concerning the repayment of a sum of money, 2 pages and address. The letter is signed by Boyle and his sister, Lady Ranelagh. Robert Boyle to Sir Isaac Newton, 19 August 1682, concerning various matters, including the appearance of a comet, 2 pages and address.

Dates: 1678-1682
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Sir Isaac Newton: Letter to Robert Boyle

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8537
Scope and Contents

A letter from Sir Isaac Newton to Robert Boyle, 28 February 1679, regarding the cause of gravitation. The letter is a file copy written in the hand of Newton's amanuensis. There are corrections and additions by Newton, who has signed the letter at the end.

Dates: 1679
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

Sir Isaac Newton: Notes on 'Principia', and related papers

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.2768.14
Scope and Contents

In Latin. fo. 1: tables on the motions of two comets, 1682-3. For the first, see Edmond Halley, Astronomical Tables, London, 1752. The printed table differs in some particulars from this copy. fo. 5: Newton: notes on the periods and distances of the satellites of Saturn, and of the planets. fo. 9: Newton: notes on Principia, p. 370, l. 28.

Dates: c. 1713
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

The Portsmouth Collection

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.3958-4007
Scope and Contents

The Portsmouth Collection is the principal collection of Isaac Newton's scientific and mathematical papers, including early drafts of the Principia, and his correspondence with Oldenburg, Halley Flamsteed and many of the other most prominent scientists of his day.

Dates: 1664-1732 (Dates are approximate.)
Conditions Governing Access: Due to the fragile nature of the material access to the collection is restricted. It is available to view in the Cambridge University Digital Library at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/newton/1 with the exception of MS.Add.4007, which is open for consultation by holders of a Reader's Ticket valid for the Manuscripts Reading Room.
 Fonds

Treatise Against an Opponent of Newton

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8874
Scope and Contents

A defence of Sir Isaac Newton against the attack of George Gordon, made in Gordon's Remarks on the Newtonian philosophy, as propos'd by Sir Isaac Newton, in his Principia naturalis, and by Dr. Gregory, in his Principia astronomiae physicae (London, 1719). The treatise (47 pages) contains an examination of several of Newton's propositions, and Gordon's contradictions, with regard to centripetal forces, friction, projectile motion and gravity.

Dates: 1720 (circa)
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

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Science 2
Gravitation 1
Natural philosophy 1
Spilsby, Lincolnshire 1