Isaac newton biography isaac newton inventions telescope

One of the most influential scientists in history, Sir Isaac Newton’s contributions to the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy and chemistry helped usher in the Scientific Revolution.

And while the long-told tale of an apple dropping on his learned head is likely apocryphal, his contributions changed the way we see and understand the world around us.

He created the modern telescope

Before Newton, standard telescopes provided magnification, but with drawbacks.

Known as refracting telescopes, they used glass lenses that changed the direction of different colors at different angles. This caused “chromatic aberrations,” or fuzzy, out-of-focus areas around objects being viewed through the telescope.

After much tinkering and testing, including grinding his own lenses, Newton found a solution.

He replaced the refracting lenses with mirrored ones, including a large, concave mirror to show the primary image and a smaller, flat, reflecting on