Foreign and Filipino Scientist and their contributions

Sir. Isaac Newton

Apart from being a genius and child progidy, his key achievements: Calculus, theory of universal gravitation, Newtonian
mechanics, visible spectrum of light.
. Sir Isaac Newton developed the generali!ed binomial theorem in ""#. After obtaining his degree, Newton spent two
years studying at home as a precaution against the $reat %lague. &uring these years, he began developing theories on the
law of gravitation, optics and calculus.
'. (ne of the key mathematical achievements of Newton was the development of infinitesimal calculus. )he calculus was
also the center point of an intellectual battle between him and another mathematician $ottfried *eibni! over who had first
developed the method.
Newton published few accounts of the calculus in "+, and the full portion in -./, whereas *eibni! published his
complete papers in "0/. Newton and his supporters alleged that *eibni! had some access to Newton1s unpublished works
during his *ondon visit. )his raised some 2uestions on whether or not *eibni!1s full calculus account was based on
Newton1s concept. 3ost modern historians and scientists believe that *eibni! did not plagiari!e Newton1s works.
,. )he Newtonian telescope, a sort of reflecting telescope, was developed by Newton in ""0. It is the first functional
telescope in the history of reflecting telescopes. )oday, the Newtonian telescope is 2uite popular among amateur
astronomers.
/. Sir Isaac Newton was one of the proponents of particle theory, which suggests that light is made up of particles and not
waves.
#. 4e published all three books of his %hilosophiae Naturalis %rincipia 3athematica 5known popularly as %rincipia6
between "0" and "0-. )hese books dealt specifically with the theory of gravitation and three laws of motion. )hey also
presented many other important studies including studies on 7arth1s spheroidal figures, the precession of e2uino8es, a
theory on cometary orbits, the 3oon1s irregular motions and much more. Interestingly, Newton1s three books were
published only because of 7dmund 4alley1s financial aid.
". In ""#, Sir Isaac Newton began working on a theory that white light is a combination of different colors through his
popular 9prism1 e8periment. 4e published his observations on his discovery on the spectrum of light in his (pticks
5(ptics6 in -./.