Christmas Message 2011

Merry Christmas to you all out there in cyberspace, hope your celebrations in honour of the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God, saviour of mankind, son of David, son of man, the Messiah et cetera.

This year however I wish to draw your attention to the birthday of one other person, a key thinker in progressing scientific progress during the Enlightenment period. That someone is Sir Isaac Newton.

Yes Sir Isaac Newton, born 25th December 1642, a renowed alchemist, physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and theologian. His birthday goes overlooked on this day so this year I have taken it upon myself to remind people of his work and how influential it has been within the sciences over the centuries following his death in 1727.

• Credited with the discovery of gravity
• Devised the law of universal gravitation F=G [[m1×m2]/r²]
• Devised the three laws of motion:

1. the velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force
2. the acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the force applied and directly inproportional to the mass F=ma
3. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

• Demonstrated the constancy between Kepler’s laws of planatary motion and the laws of gravitation, thus adding the finishing touches to heliocentrism
• Constructed the first reflecting telescope
• Developed the theory of spectral light radiation via observations done with prisms
• Devised one of the thermodynamic laws

• Alongside Gottfried Leibniz devised differential calculus, integral calculus and infinitesimal calculus

So once again I wish you all a merry christmas. But when you think of Jesus asleep in his manger on this day please spare a moment for Sir Isaac and his apple.