Quick Facts Profession: pioneering scientist Famous for: a number of groundbreaking discoveries about the laws of the universe
An enlightened mind
Find words that mean: lived in the house of, was called for, a disease spread by the fleas of rats, unable to read
Newton was born three months after his father's death. His father was an illiterate farmer. When Newton was three, his mother remarried. He did not like his stepfather. He was brought up by his grandmother. He went to King's School, about 11 kilometres from his hometown. He lodged with an alchemist, or chemist.
When his mother's second husband died, the young Newton was summoned home from school to manage the family farm. He hated farming, and some people say he deliberately did a bad job. The principal of King's School persuaded his mother to allow him to go back to study.
In 1661, Newton entered Trinity College at Cambridge University. He became fascinated by mathematics and spent most of his time privately studying it. He was also interested in optics, the study of light.
