Historical Astronomers in Context

1. Isaac Newton (B. December 25, 1642 D. March 20, 1727) was important because he was one of the first people to accurately describe mathematically how planetary motion works. He was able to begin to mathematically describe how gravity works and especially how it relates to mass on a massive planetary scale.
2. When Newton was at Trinity college, they had to close due to the Bubonic Plague. It killed a quarter of London’s population. The English Civil War was also occurring when he was born. They were between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians of England.
   1. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch microscopist that discovered bacteria and protozoa which helped create modern day bacteriology.
3. During the 1600’s the scientific revolution was well underway. Whether it is Spinoza making new philosophies, Newton or Galileo making breakthroughs in astronomy and physics, or Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek in biology. The foundations of what we use today were just being laid during this time period.