Isaac Newton
“If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.”
Why: To understand the world.
What: A mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, author, and a key figure in the scientific revolution. He formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, built the first practical reflecting telescope, made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.
How: Newton suffered from multiple traumas as a child, leading to an acute sense of insecurity which may have contributed to his lifetime of anxious obsessiveness. He was largely self-educated, with a special love of mathematics, physics, astronomy, alchemy, mysticism, and theology. He developed a systematic approach to organize his ideas, theories, and experiments. For two years during the black plague, he locked himself up at home to intensely study and write. He continued to work hard for 60 years, publishing multiple pioneering works. His process combined gritty dedication and single-minded focus, and he often spent long periods in solitude.
Image credits: Wikipedia
