Best Thing That Happened on 4 January 1643

Wow, today is Isaac Newton's birthday! I think Google does a fantastic job in reminding the public of significant days like these. I am ashamed of myself - to think that I teach physics and badger my students so frequently about the three Newton laws, I had no idea that on this day in the year 1643, this great man was born!

Well, this certainly gives me something to write about for the theme "BEST" today :)

The best thing that happened three hundred and sixty seven years ago was the birth of Sir Isaac Newton. In Wikipedia, he is described as an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential scientists in history.

In my opinion, not even the word "genius" can describe this man.

The three universal laws of motion or more like how I really drill these laws into my students' brains:

• Law #1: A stationary object remains at rest and a moving object keeps moving unless an external force acts upon it.
• Law #2: F = ma. That's it.
• Law #3: For every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction.

 And now, for every apple that I eat, I will think of Sir Isaac Newton.

I shall end this post with his humble words...

If I have seen it farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

*photo credits to https://libwebspace.library.cmu.edu:4430/posner/sp09/subcontents/images/GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg