Newton as an Astrophysicist

Abstract

A PAPER by Elizabeth Connor entitled “Sir Isaac Newton, the Pioneer of Astrophysics” appears as Leaflet No. 158 of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (April 1942), which supplies a brief outline of the life and work of Newton. Up to the time of entering the University of Cambridge, Newton had not exhibited any extraordinary talent, and though his undergraduate days were profitable, those which followed immediately after he graduated were the most productive which any scientific worker ever experienced. The outbreak of the plague forced him to leave Cambridge, and practically all his time between August 1665 and March 1667 was spent at Woolsthorpe, where his exile allowed him to concentrate on some of his greatest achievements. Among these may be noticed his method of fluxions, the law of the composition of light, and the law of universal gravitation. During this period he gave attention to experiments with the refracting telescope, but because he believed that chromatic and spherical aberration could not be overcome, he turned his attention to the reflecting type.