Other Roles

Newton and Math
Calculus grew out of four major problems that European mathematicians were trying to solve:
        1. The tangent line problem
                   2. Velocity and acceleration problem
                              3. The minimum and maximum problem
4. The area problem.
Isaac Newton along with Gottfried Leibniz is given credit for the first general solution to these problems. His interest from these problems stemmed from his interest in optics and light refraction leading to...

Newton and Astronomy
The earlier style of telescopes used glass lens which caused chromatic aberration. Newton solved this problem by designing the reflecting telescope which used a mirror rather than a glass.

Newton and Alchemy
Newton kept his practice of alchemy secret; he believed the information it provided could be very dangerous if it fell in the wrong hands. After his death Newton's friends hid his work so well it was not discovered until 1936. Newton's work in alchemy is significant because it is what inspired him to write Principia, the book in which all his theories were first laid out.