CHAPTER X 



SIR ISAAC NEWTON LIFE AND DISCOVERIES IN 

 MATHEMATICS, PROPERTIES OF LIGHT AND 

 LAWS OF GRAVITATION HIS DISLIKE OF 

 THEORIZING. 



NEARLY one year after the death of Galileo 

 (January 8, 1642) there was born at Woolsthorpe, 

 Lincolnshire, England, on Christmas day, 1642, Old 

 Style (January 5, 1643, New Style) ISAAC NEWTON, 

 whose name, inseparably associated with that of 

 Galileo, will remain immortal in the memory of 

 mankind. Newton was the son of a landed pro- 

 prietor of limited means, but whose family had 

 possessed the estate upon which he was born nearly 

 three hundred years. His birth was premature, and 

 he was so small and feeble that it was thought that 

 he could not live. Very soon after his birth his 

 father died. His mother re-married when he was 

 three years old, but faithfully fulfilled her duties to 

 her child, and gave him an education that would be 

 appropriate to his position as a country squire. He 

 showed a great aptitude for mechanical contrivances, 



