Isaac Newton

Timeline

1. 1643–1661Woolsthorpe and Grantham · LincolnshireBorn at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, orphaned of his father in infancy, he received his early schooling at King's School, Grantham, showing a keen interest in mechanics and mathematics that laid the academic foundation for his later entry to Cambridge.
2. 1661–1667Trinity College, Cambridge University · CambridgeshireEntered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661, studying under Isaac Barro and others, and read Descartes and Galileo. In 1665 he left for home during the Great Plague of London, developing at Woolsthorpe the method of fluxions (an early form of calculus), experiments on optical dispersion, and early ideas on universal gravitation.
3. 1667–1696Cambridge · CambridgeshireReturned to Cambridge in 1667, earned his bachelor's degree, and later became a fellow and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. In 1687 he published the Principia Mathematica, systematically setting out the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation; in optics he completed his prism experiments and published Opticks.
4. 1696–1727London · LondonFrom 1696 he served as Warden (later Master) of the Royal Mint and moved to London, directing currency reform. Elected President of the Royal Society in 1703 and knighted in 1705, he spent his later years revising the Principia and writing on chronology and theology, dying in London in 1727.