* December 25, 1642 [January 4, 1643, New Style], Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England,
+ March 20 [March 31], 1727, London

English physicist and mathematician, who was the culminating figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

In optics, his discovery of the composition of white light integrated the phenomena of colours into thescience of light and laid the foundation for modern physical optics. In mechanics, his three laws of  motion, the basic principles of modern physics, resulted in the formulation of the law of universal gravitation. In mathematics, he was the original discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus. Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687, was one of the most important single works in the history of modern science.