Sir Isaac Newton as the Father of Modern Science in Scientific History - Research Paper Example

?RUNNING HEAD: SIR ISAAC NEWTON: THE FATHER OF MODERN SCIENCE Sir Isaac Newton: the Father of Modern Science in Scientific History Date Sir Isaac Newton: the Father of Modern Science in Scientific History Introduction In scientific history Sir Isaac Newton is considered as the father of modern science because of his epoch-making and unique contributions to the science of physics and mathematics. Though in the field of physical science his predecessors have excelled in theoretical explanations of the behavior of the physical world, Newton provided theories a solid mathematical ground. He is mostly remembered because of his book “Philosophia Principia Mathematica” in which he explains the behaviors of moving bodies. Indeed the later development of Einsteinium Physics was greatly contributed to by the Newton’s the ideas and theories that he discussed in “Principia”. The book “Principia” brought him the fame and made him a public figure because of its importance to change the commoners’ view of the universe. Obviously Newton’s idea of the universe dominated the knowledge of the physics till Albert Einstein came up with a relative view of the universe in his theory of Relativity. Indeed even after the publishing of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Newton concept of the universe continued to teach people about the system and functionality of the universe. Newton’s Contribution to Mathematics Newton’s career began with his study on calculus. Though he invented calculus solely, the credit of inventing calculus fell upon the part of German scientist Leibniz. Anyway, in 1669 on the subject of infinite series Newton’s study paper "De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas" was greatly appreciated by his contemporaries. Regarding Newton’s genius Isaac Barrow’s comment was as following: "Mr Newton, a fellow of our College, and very young ... but of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things." (Gjertsen, 1986, p. 143) Though Newton did not get the credit of inventing calculus, it is deemed that Newton independently contributed to the development of infinitesimal calculus. Also modern researchers found that Newton’s contribution to the development of infinitesimal calculus was hinted in Book 1 of Principia and another manuscript “On the motion of bodies in orbit” in 1684. Indeed Newton’s Principia was not written in the language of Calculus, though he comprehensively used infinitesimal calculus in geometric forms. In Principia, Newton effectively employed “limiting values of the ratios of vanishing small quantities” naming it “the method of first and last ratios.” (Newton, 1727, p. 46) The use of “limiting values of the ratios of vanishing small quantities” through the method of indivisibles was the first step to employ calculus in explaining the universe. As a result modern scholars often called Principia “a book dense with the theory and application of the infinitesimal calculus.” (Truesdell, 1968, p. 99) Indeed Newton was “distinctly advanced every branch of mathematics then studied” (Ball, 1908, p. 67). During his lifetime Newton significantly contributed to the development and a number of fields of mathematics such as “generalized binomial theorem”, “Newton's identities”, “Newton's method”, “classified cubic plane curves”, “theory of finite differences”, and “use of fractional indices and coordinate geometry to obtain solutions to Diophantine equations” (Truesdell, 1968, p. 68). Newton’s Contribution to Physics One of Newton’s most remarkable contributions to science of his age was “the invention, design and construction of a reflecting telescope” (Gjertsen, 1986, p. 122) . This telescope had been considered as a significant advancement in the field of telescope technology. But his contributions to Optics were of greater importance. Newton spent several years investigating the refraction of light and invented that white light passed through a prism would decompose into a spectrum of colors. He proved that colored light, whether it is reflected, transmitted or scattered, remains the same and color of any object in white light is the result of the object’s interaction with colored spectrums. Depending on this theory of light Newton foretold that the refracting telescopes would be problematic because of the chromatic aberration, that is, because of the dispersion of light into colors. In order to prove his concept he built a telescope that earned him the membership in the Royal Society. Around this time Newton developed his corpuscular theory of light demonstrating that “light comprises particles or corpuscles that are “refracted by accelerating into a denser medium” (Gjertsen, 1986, p. 129). For him, light covers distances riding sound-like wave. He depended on this hypothesis in order to explain the repeated pattern of transmission and reflection of light. But in Props 13 of Opticks Book II he retains the corpuscular behavior of light. In spite of this duality, modern quantum mechanics and wave-particle-duality theory of light shares Newton’s concept of light. Newton as the Predecessor of Modern Science and Orbital Mechanics Modern critics claim that though Newton’s concept of ether as a medium to transmit energy between particles and actions at distances has been voided, it had a significant influence on his invention of gravitational force. Indeed though Einstein proves the energy-matter relationship through the equation “E=mc2”, in Opticks, Newton provided a prelude to the idea of energy-matter relationship, as he says, "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another ...and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?"[39] In a number of cases Newton preceded modern ideas and thought. One of such examples is the diagram of a “beam expander”. In his book Opticks, he explained its functionality using a prism. Using diagrams he showed the use of the multiple-prism arrays to describe the functionality of a multiple-prism expander. After Newton’s first discussion it some 300 hundred years ago in “Opticks”, his prism-expander technique greatly contributed to the development of narrow-linewidth tunable lasers. Further this technique gave birth to the multiple-prism dispersion theory. The work for which Newton is remembered the most is the theories and ideas in his book “Principia”. Book I of the Principia describes the “foundations of the science of mechanics, developing upon them the mathematics of orbital motion round centers of force” (Hall, 1998, p. 1) . The central topic of Principia was mechanics and assertion of gravitation force. Newton applied the theory of gravitation and its effects on the orbits of planets to explain the motion of the planetary entities with reference to Kepler’s Laws. In this book Newton wrote down the three universal laws of motion. Newton showed gravitation: “As the fundamental force controlling the motions of the celestial bodies He never found its cause. To contemporaries who found the idea of attractions across empty space unintelligible, he conceded that they might prove to be caused by the impacts of unseen particles.” (Hall, 1998, p. 1) These fundamental laws brought about a revolutionary change in mechanics that accelerated the industrial revolution. Using these laws a number of gigantic machines had been possible during the industrial revolution in Europe. From then these laws over 300 years they have dominated the non-relativistic world, though in Einsteinium relativistic universe, Newton’s universal laws of motions needs some modifications in order for adaptation. Yet the basics of the laws remain the same both in Newtonian and Einsteinium world. In his book “Principia” Newton introduced the “analytical determination of sound-speed”, the “oblation of Earth’s spheroidal figure” and described the precession of the equinoxes which are influenced by the Moon’s gravitational effect on the oblation of the Earth. Also Newton explained the Earth’s gravitational effect on the irregularities of the moon’s orbital motion. Moreover he theorized the orbital movement of the comets and a number of other mathematical explanations of the natural phenomena. Newton’s heliocentric view of the solar system was an epoch-making twist in the history of science. The shift from the geocentric view to the heliocentric view of the solar system greatly contributed to the development of modern concept of the universe. Obviously the introduction of Newton’s heliocentric universe confronted the scientists with some crucial questions –such as the total mass of the universe and the center of gravity of the universe, the position of the solar system in the universe, etc- that further engaged the scientists in investigating and developing a separate branch called space science. Since, for Newton, the Sun was the center of the solar system’s gravity, it is positioned at the center. He believed that “the common centre of gravity of the Earth, the Sun and all the Planets is to be esteemed the Centre of the World” (Newton, 1727, p. 32) Along with Newton’s introduction of the heliocentric solar system, the universal laws of motion began to inspire the scientist to explore the world outside the Earth. How Newton is related to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Indeed the “Theory of Relativity” is a pioneer attempt to make a negotiation between the two contrasting phenomena of the Nature. But one can righteously wonder whether the emergence of the “theory of relativity” would have been possible without the development of the concept of Newtonian universe (Westfall, 2007, p. 24). In one of its postulates it is being said that velocity is relative. But in another the very opposite to the first one is asserted that the velocity of light is constant or unalterable. The first one is self-evident or axiomatic whereas the second one is proved mechanically through Michael-Sawn Morley Experiment. As a negotiation the “Theory of Relativity” has been fore-grounded on the ruins of Newtonian concept of Absolute Time. To attain the goal of this essay, some essential facts of the ‘Theory of Relativity’ need to be explained. The concept of Time is an indispensable part of the theory. In Modern Physics, Einsteinium Age begins by drawing a conclusion to the Newtonian Concept of ‘Absolute Time.’ According to the Newtonian concept of ‘Time’, the time difference between two events should be the same for all observers. But Einsteinium concept asserts that time measurement depends on the observer’s state of velocity. That is, time measurement may vary from observer to observer. Shortly time measurement is the observer’s own. On one hand, the term ‘Absolute Time’ means that the flow of Time is all the same for all. Here, Time is compared to an ocean where the material bodies are keeping pace with the flow of her current (Bechler, 1991, pp. 56-67). Time is the process of rating upon any happenings, imposed by an observer. As a result, time duration of an event may not be the same for different observers. The fact can be explained with the following example, Figure- 1 In figure-1 it is assumed that three tennis balls are bouncing on a surface EF and two observers, A and B on either side of the surface, are counting the bounce-rate of the balls. It is also assumed that the pulse-rate of the observers is A- 30s-1 B-40s-1. First the whole picture is considered under the concept of Absolute Time. In this case observer A is supposed to count the bounce-rate of the material bodies respectively as M>10s-1, N>5s-1,P>75-1 and A>30s-1 and B>40s-1. Now as Absolute Time is universal, it will not be otherwise for the observer B. Likewise, if one second is dilated to three seconds for N, and as Time is universal, it will be dilated for others at the same rate as it is dilated for n. That is, the bounce-rates will be as m-10/3s-1, n-5/3s-1, p-7/3s-1, A-30/ss-1 and B-40/3s-1. As Time is dilated at the same rate for all, the dilation is unperceivable. Conclusion Newton was the mastermind to perceive the true nature of the universe and the rules that dominates it. His inventions took the scientists to a stage from which modern science as well as Einsteinium era began. Indeed Einsteinium concept of a relative universe was the modern adaptation of Newtonian universe where Newton accepted the Earth as the object of reference. But in the Einsteinium relative universe any object can play the role of a reference. The development of Einsteinium relative world had been possible only with the increased knowledge of the nature of light and the universe, derived through Newtonian model of the universe. Newton was quite successful to theorize and mathematically explain the world which was so far a mystery to his contemporaries (Westfall, 2007, pp. 34-8). While Einstein explains the universe in term of any primary reference object, Newtonian concept explains it in term of the Earth as an absolute object of reference. Not only Newton’s contribution to physical science but also his contributions to mathematics make people remember him. References Ball, W.W. R. (1908). A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. New York: Dover. Bechler, Zev (1991). Newton's Physics and the Conceptual Structure of the Scientific Revolution. Springer Gjertsen, D. (1986). The Newton Handbook. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hall, A. R. (1998). Isaac Newton's Life. Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 13th August, 2011. from http://www.newton.ac.uk/newtlife.html Newton, I. (1727). The Principia: a new Translation by I. Bernard Cohen California: University of California (1999). Truesdell, C. (1968). Essays in the History of Mechanics. Berlin: Prince Publishers, p.99. Westfall, R. S. (2007). Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press Read More