Isaac Newton : English

Full Name: Sir Isaac Newton

ROLE:

His ultimate contribution in the Age of Enlightment was playing a leading role in practicing rational thinking towards the
ideas being taught by institutional religions and suggesting the education by science rather than sole religion.

BIO

Isaac Newton has been named by many as the ‘greatest genius’ who ever existed. His theories regarding light
and sound, along with his explanations of gravity gained him international fame. He created a form of calculus
and changed worldviews about geometry. In his later years, ironically, he wrote more about religion and
theology than on any other subject.

In his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he came up with the three laws of motion, which
paved the way for physics and mechanics. He also staunchly supported his beliefs that light waves were
particles and not waves, such as with sound.
Isaac’s father was a farmer and died before Newton was born. Newton’s mother wanted her son to work in the
family’s small enterprise.. When his mother had him removed from school, he began working on the farm, but
returned to school on the advice of the headmaster who saw his great potential. It was during his time at Trinity
that he discovered mathematical theories that would later lay the groundwork for modern-day calculus. When
the college shut down due to the Great Plague, he worked at home for nearly two years perfecting his new math,
and working on gravitation and optics.

By 1670, Isaac Newton had been elected Lucasian professor of mathematics. He decided to use his time
lecturing on optics and investigating and discussing the properties of light and refraction.

Quote:
“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things”

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I saac Newton was an English scientist and mathematician who lived between 1642-1727.

He has said “to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then studied" and far beyond his
educational years when he was very young. His contributions in establishing complex calculus and
theoretical physics drastically shaped the fundamental principles of modern science. In Mathematics,
Newton’s development of the differential and integral calculus demonstrated the binomial theorem
which has applications deriving variable entities in modern computers.

In the evolving ideas or Science, he impacted the science community by defining the law of motion and
establishment of universal gravity. The underlying ideas of Newton, which combined the mathematics of
“axiomatic proof with the mechanics of physical observation”, resulted in a system of verifiable predictions and
set the scientific ethics for further development in science. Newton is described as the second most important
figure in the pioneering of physics after Albert Einstein. His contributions led him to become a leader in a new
perspective of learning through science rather than religion.

His leading contributions and discoveries during the Age of Enlightment led to a new vision extended to
societies under religions rule. This new philosophy greatly influenced the encouragement of rational thinking
and ultimately brought the Age of Reason. This brought societies to become more critical observers in major
aspects of life.

GALILEO GALILEI:italian
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I
“ t is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved”

Bio:

Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. There were many inventions created by Galileo but
perhaps his most famous invention was the telescope. Galileo made his first telescope in 1609, His discoveries
proved the Copernican system (imposed by Isaac Newton) were evident and that the scientific teachings from
the Catholic Church were illogical. This idea strongly conflicted with the Catholic Church and eventually
charges Galileo for eradication of heresies. Galileo was found guilty of heresy for his Dialogue, and was sent to
his home near Florence where he was to be under house arrest for the remainder of his life. In 1642, Galileo
died at his home outside Florence.
Role: Galileo was an Italian mathematics teacher, astronomer and physicist, and one of the first true scientists. Galileo’s achievements in
constructing the fundamental designs of modern telescopes helped drastically in the Age of Enlightment. This advanced science from believing the

Earth was in the middle to a broader heliocentric approach. His ultimate contribution in the Age of Enlightment was the rejection of various scientific

ideas presented by the Church at the time. His heliocentric universe (Sun in the center) was a true ignition of advancement in science based on

evidence rather than religious values.

Back of card

Galileo was the first man to use a telescope to observe the stars and planets, and with the information he gained from
this (craters on the moon, moons around Jupiter, sunspots), he was able to challenge the outdated view of the
universe--which seemed to think that "the heavens" were perfect. Beyond astronomy, Galileo ideas led to controversies
with various (mainly Protestant) theologians and a scientific revolution

His thoughts were later incorporated into Isaac Newton's universal law of gravitation. The father of modern
observational astronomy Galileo’s contribution to mechanics were fundamental to the advancement in space
technology and advancement in knowledge. Galileo's investigations concerned the natural descent of bodies along
planes of various inclinations, the formulation of the law which established the relationship between space traversed
and time interval in free-fall, the isochronisms of the oscillations of pendulums of equal lengths

The importance of Galileo's work on the physics of motion is that it continued to apply the mathematical approach to
the study of physical problems that had previously been treated in a non-mathematical way.

His broader aspect of science was incorporated universally and his use of the telescope to look at and study
planets continued a scientific paradigm shift within the cultural paradigm shift of the Renaissance, high
Middle Ages, and the Protestant Reformation which started in 1517.
Galileo Galilei

15 February 1564– 8 January 1642

Adam Smith 1723-1790

BACK OF CARD:

The Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is set forth a number of invariable principles of economic behavior, based
on the belief that people act according to their self-interest but, through competition, work to promote general
economic advance. Government should avoid regulation in favor of the operation of individual initiative and
market forces. This was a crucial model that created a political spectrum used in modern society and a major
breakthrough from the Feudalistic approach given since early history. His early life was extraordinary as he went to
university at the age of 13! His teaching career initiated with natural liberty and moral philosophy. Adam Smith's beliefs
were against government regulations or intervention in social matters. He believed that the enforcement of laws and
regulations were essential in achieving free markets. Adam Smith helped created “the modern academic discipline of
economics and provided one of the best-known intellectual rationales for free trade, capitalism, and libertarianism."

Smith laid the intellectual framework that explained the free market and still holds true today and father to modern
capitalism. His opposition to mercantilism and various government regulations help create self-sufficient social bodies
that would not exist prior to the Age of Enlightment. His philosophy shaped the social manner and economical shift
towards a stable cycle.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jun/smith.html

www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Newton.html

http:// http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Newton.html

http://www.windows2universe.org/people/enlightenment/newton.html

http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/physics/space/gravity.htm

http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/enlightenment_age.html

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/galileo_galilei.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith