CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Isaac Newton and the Apple 4 CHAPTER TWO The Young Scientist 12 CHAPTER THREE Cambridge and Discovering Gravity 20 CHAPTER FOUR Becoming a Professor 28 CHAPTER FIVE Writing the Principia 36 Important Dates 42 Stop and Think 44 Glossary 46 Learn More 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER ONE ISAAC NEWTON AND THE APPLE On a late summer day in 1666 Isaac Newton was thinking in his garden The 23-year-old was at his boyhood home of Woolsthorpe in the east of England Newton was spending time there while his studies at the University of Cambridge were interrupted A plague had come to England in 1665 It was important to keep A n a p p l e t r e e m a y h a v e h e l p e d i n s p i r e N e w t o n s w o r k w h i c h h a d a f a r r e a c h i n g i m p a c t o n t h e s t u d y o f g r a v i t y 5
