Astro2110 – The Solar System

1. Isaac Newton: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27.

2. I admire Isaac Newton (12/25/1642-03/20/1726) a whole lot and here is why:

He was modest enough to build on the work of Kepler’s law, instead of making his own from scratch. Through his work, we were able to have a deeper understanding of gravitation and its effect on planetary motion; The principia which he first published on 5 July 1687 and later in 1713, is what gave him the international recognition that has lasted till present day. In this publication, he talked about how the results of his findings conclude that indeed there is a gravitational attraction. Because he could not indicate the cause of gravity at the time, he described his findings as “hypotheses non-fingo.”

3A.  In 1699, French settlers moved into Mississippi and Louisiana.

• Louisiana was named in honor of French King Louis XIV.
• It became a French territory in 1682 when Rene-Robert, Cavalier de La Salle claimed the area.

1648 marked the end of Thirty years’ War.

• This was a war fought primarily between 1618 and 1648.
• It resulted in the German population being reduced to about half its size.

3B.   A famous author named Voltaire lived from 21 November 1694-30 May 1778.

• He was a polygenist. He suggested that each race had entirely separate regions. Because of his beliefs which were considered to be somewhat abnormal at the time, his work as a prolific writer was well-publicized.

4. Learning this helped me to realize the progression of events over the years. Through this historical context, I was able to develop some sort of timeline of astronomical events which served as a foundation for what we know in the present day.

Sir Isaac Newton (Jan. 4th, 1643 — Mar. 31st, 1727) is important to astronomy because he formulated the mathematical and physical ideas that would give future astronomers the tools to better understand the universe. As he began to formulate the idea of universal gravitation, he suspected that it extended beyond those things on Earth—perhaps it pulled the moon as well. From here, he also developed laws of motion that created a foundation to understand why planets followed certain paths. With these ideas, scientists began to find explanations for things such as the orbits of comets and how planets moved. To read more about his discoveries, you can click here.

While Newton began his studies at the University of Cambridge, scary things were happening in England. The great plague broke out in London in 1655. This directly affected Newton because his school briefly closed at this point, so he went home for two years. The economy suffered as trade stopped and the wealthy fled while the poor had no choice but to stay. The official death toll is recorded at 68,596 deaths, or 15% of the population, but of course it is likely that that is an underestimation.

A year later in 1666, the Great Fire of London occurred after a particularly hot and dry summer. It began on September 2^nd and spread with an east wind until half the city was engulfed by September 4^th. They tried to put it out with buckets of water and pulling down the houses in its path, but it did not go out until September 6^th, leaving only 1/5^th of the city standing. A surprising benefit of this mass destruction was that it helped clear out a crowded and disease-ridden city and gave them a chance to start anew.

Newton was not, of course, the only one making great scientific progress at this time. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek lived at the same time as Newton. . He advanced our understanding of microbiology and was born October 24^th, 1632 and died August 26^th, 1723. He made many microscopes, under which he would study microorganisms such as bacteria, nematodes, blood cells, and sperm cells. His observations were special because of his skill in lens grinding allowed him to magnify up to 200 times, and he took great care in describing all the things he placed under his microscopes.

Learning about Newton’s historical context is a reminder that this man did not do science in a bubble, and the world is a very dangerous place. His school had to close during the great plague! Then a year later, the whole city caught on fire! If he hadn’t left the city during the plague outbreak, perhaps he would have been a casualty of the fire. I wonder where our understanding of physics would be in that case. It makes me wonder how many brilliant, budding scientists we lost too early.

Isaac Newton Born: January 4, 1643, Died: March 31, 1727

Newton’s development of a preliminary universal law of gravity gave astronomers an explanation for the attraction of mass in space, and the orbits that they had dedicated their lives to studying. The development of calculus and the study of rates of change was significant for mathematical models around the globe. Newton also brought clarity to our understanding of optics.

While Newton worked to change the way that interested humans would view the world for the rest of time, human history continued to rage around him. Below are brief descriptions of two events that occurred around the world during Newton’s life with links to more information.1718: The city of New Orleans was founded by the French government in southern North America. New Orleans would quickly develop into a center of trade due to its advantageous position at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

1701-1714: The War of the Spanish Succession was fought in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Spain maintained its territories, but its royal family gave their succession rights to the French royal family.

1718: The city of New Orleans was founded by the French government in southern North America. New Orleans would quickly develop into a center of trade due to its advantageous position at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

While Isaac Newton looked to the skies, humans continued their conquest of their peers across the globe. This all occurred in a blink on the celestial calendar. It is fascinating to reflect on the different scales of problems attacked by Newton and the world governments of the day. While exploration of the planet was far from complete, government interests remained purely terrestrial, ruled by petty disputes over ruling family lineage and land use in a “new” continent. Meanwhile, Isaac Newton spent his brief time on our planet tackling problems that concern the entire universe and not just a single group of people. Having the perspective to look to the skies absolutely reflects well upon Newton several centuries later.

Sources:

“Astronomer.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2 Apr. 2014, http://www.biography.com/people/groups/scientists-astronomers.

“War of the Spanish Succession.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession.

“New Orleans.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans.