Astronomer of the Week #1

Astronomer of the Week
Sir Isaac Newton

KatieBellaTrix

Part One: Biography

Sir Isaac Newton was a brilliant man who made many contributions to astronomy among other scientific subjects including alchemy. One of his greatist contributions was to his theory of universal gravitation which states that:

Quote :

Every single point mass attracts every other point mass by a force pointing along the line combining the two. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses

That is all very confusing for me, so I decided to concentrate more on his affect on the scientific community. Along with universal gravitation he published the 3 laws of motion which helped scientists form there ideas about the physical universe. This is now the basis for modern enginerring, and classical mechanics which is used for describing the movement of macroscopic objects. In addition Newtons research helped propel the scientific revolution.

Isaac Newton was born January 4th, 1643 according to the modern calender but his birthdate was marked offically as December 25th, 1642. He was born premeturly and 3 months after his father also named Isaac died. WHen he was three his mother remarried and he was sent to live with his grandmother. He had ill-feelings toward his mother and step-father.

He is best known as the genius who explained gravity... and interestingly enough he was born the same year Gallelaio died. Newton's works include Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) and Opticks (1704).

Part Two: Magical History.

I think that it is fairly obvious that Isaac Newton was a wizard in his day. If you look again at why he was sent away to live with his grandmother, you can start to doubt wether it was becasue his mother got remarried or becasue he had started to display magic which scared his mother and step-father. Here we can start to question whether his grandmother was magic or not either. In a list of sins he committed up until the age of 19 it says he threatened to burn down his parents house and i am inclined to think that he did indeed burn down the house and that obliviators came to the seen to straiten the whole thing out.

Wether or not Newton went to Hogwarts is a mystery. I am of the opinion that he should of gone there considering he was born in England. However, there are records of him attending muggle schools. Wether or not this is a lie used by th emuggle schools for publicity and fame is anyone's guess, but I think that Newton would learned and gaine da lot from attending Hogwarts and therefore doubt the truthfulness of the muggle accounts. Other Muggle records say that when his mother was widowed for the second time she tried to make a farmer of him. I think she did this both to take advantage of his magical ability and to keep him from going back to Hogwarts. However in the end he did indeed leave his mother.

Magic would have greatly helped Newton and his sucess. Nobody but a wizard could have successfully explained gravity to muggles, since us wizards have been defying it for so long. I do not say that this was an easy feat though, becasue we all know how ignorant muggles can be.
Bonus: Picturehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Isaac_Newton.jpeg/200px-

Part 1

Born the 4th of January, 1643, Sir Isaac Newton was known for his work as an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. As a physicist, he promoted three laws of motion which he used to provide reasoning for the movement of planets. In 1679, he continued his mechanical muses in direct relation to the theory of gravity's effects on orbiting planets. In order to prove their revolution, he drew a direct parallel with Kepler's laws of planetary motion as well as his own theory of the existence of a gravitation force. He also consulted Hooke and Flamsteed with his ideas. Once having conclusive evidence, he published his theories in De Motu Corporum, which held the basis and foundation for motional physics and provided basis for The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (now known as the Principia), published on the 5th of July, 1687. His three laws of universal motion, which stood the test of time for over 200 years, included the idea of gravity, derived from the latin word for weight, gravitus. Basing ideals on Boyle's law, he came up with analytical determination of the speed of sound in air. His work in the Principia brough him to international fame and symbolism in the science community. Many admired him and worked closely with him to advance and forward science even more.

Part 2

It was just another bright and sunshiney day in Sir Isaac Newton's alchemy lair when he decided it was time to invent a potion of his own. He didn't really know what effect he wanted it to have, as long as it actually had an effect. First, he decided, he would have to find ingredients no man had ever attempted to use before. What better place to find new ingredients than the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, he thought. So surely enough, he took the train to Hogsmeade and trekked up to Hogwarts to begin his journey through the thickets of the forest.

Upon his entrance, he made a couple turns to find a strange and mysterious plant that, according to his field guide, looked like an asphodel. He pulled up the roots and placed them gently in his sack. He then meandered through to come across a another plant. He decided to taste the leaf, only to find it bitter. He consulted his field guide, and sure enough, he had found wormwood. At this point, he had his afterlife-like ingredient and his bitter ingredient, but he didn't want to make a killing potion! He then realized he should make a potion to cause someone to fall into a very deep sleep. He decided to use some of the sopohorous bean of his own stock and pick up some valerian roots in the Hogsmeade village. He had everything he needed to create his potion.

But who to test it on? Isaac wondered. He of course had the perfect solution. He really wanted to visit the New World in order to inspect it for plants and items of alchemic interest. He would explain to the king that he had potions of great medicinal importance he wanted to test on injured American settlers. The king agreed, figuring it best to get rid of someone with alchemy on the mind, and allowed Isaac to visit America. Maybe he’d find someone in need of a deep rest, and he could find plants to make new potions and discoveries.

Carrying the Draught of Living Death in his pocket as he wandered through an American forest high in the mountains, a rather strange man, who introduced himself as Rip Van Winkle, wandered into his campsite. Sir Isaac, being the gentleman he was, invited the man to have a rest and enjoy some of the food and drink he and his research team had brought. The man was very grateful, but the liquor soon made him talk of the wife who did not love him and how very distressed it made him feel. He just felt so angry, ALL the time. Isaac then had the perfect solution – literally. He slipped some of the Draught of Living Death into the strange man’s drink, and immediately the potion took effect. Van Winkle fell into a very deep sleep, and Isaac gleamed as he saw Van Winkle’s smiling, peaceful face. He left Van Winkle covered under the warm leaves and earth as a natural blanket and knew one day the man would awake with his troubles long gone.


Bonus



Works Cited
"Encyclopedia of Potions." HPL: Encyclopedia of Potions: L. 12 Aug. 2007. 1 Sept. 2007 <http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/potions/potions-l.html#living_death_draught_of>.

"Isaac Newton." Isaac Newton - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 1 Sept. 2007. 1 Sept. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton>.

"Rip Van Winkle." Rip Van Winkle - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 31 Aug. 2007. 1 Sept. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle>.

Part 1
Give me a short biography of Isaac Newton focusing most on his influence in Astronomy, 200 words minimum!
Sir Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 at Woolsthorpe Manor in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, a hamlet in the county of Lincolnshire. He was born three months after the death of his father. Newton is believed by some researchers to have suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. His book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion. Famous for discovering the laws of Gravity. History says that he discoeverd gravity thanks to an apple in a tree. In mathematics he developed what we know as "Calculus." He provided great things to the fields of Optics, Mathematics, Mechanics and Gravitation and many more. In the 1690s Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal interpretation of the Bible. Newton died in London on March 31, 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. After his death, Newton's body was discovered to have had massive amounts of mercury in it, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life. He was and still is one of the greatest astronomers in history. Many of his discoveries are pretty useful to people nowadays.

Part 2
I want you to imagine that Isaac Newton was a wizard and write an episode of his life as a wizard, how would magic help him? You can even attribute to magic one of his discoveries or achievements. (300 words minimum!)
Sitting on his desk Sir Isaac Newton kept writing and writing formulas. "If I could understand how this works," he told himself. After the incident that afternoon he knew he had discovered something.

He was sitting near the Whomping Willow just looking at the Hogwarts grounds when an apple fell down. "Why didn't it stay up?" he thought to himself. Immediately he got up and went back to his dormitory.

Sitting in his dormitory he kept thinking and thinking. He was so concetrated in his work that he didn't even go down to dinner. "Everything that goes up must come down," he kept repeating to himself. Suddenly, and idea came to him.

He got up and went to look for his Remembrall. He started practicing simple exercises with his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said. Up went the Remembrall, floating in the air. He realized evrytime he broke the spell the Remembrall would fall down. "Why didn't it stay up?" he questioned himself.

He tried going to different places all over the school grounds. He went to the Great Hall, Hagrid's Hut, The Whomping Willow, some of his classrooms, even the Astronomy Tower which was so high. In every single place he tried he got the same effect.

He quickly learned that no matter where you where, the effect would always be the same. After studying he found out even in outer space and in other galaxies it would always be the same. After many hours of thinking and analyzing it finally came to him.

Quote :

"In that slight startle from his contemplation —
'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground
For any sage's creed or calculation) —
A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round
In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation;"
And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall or with an apple."

He thought to himself. And that is what he decided to call "Gravity."

Bonus
Post a picture of Isaac.

Well done everyone here are your marks:

Gryffindor

KatieBellaTrix - 38

Hufflepuff

dragonweaver - 40 + 5 = 45
Kendra_McKie - 35

Ravenclaw

stephy - 30
PrincessPotter - 33



Some people lost points for not having posted their sources.