Knight in white light
The Hindu
The son of a farmer, Isaac Newton fostered the scientific revolution in Britain and across Europe.
On April 17, 1705, Queen Anne of Great Britain knighted Isaac Newton at Trinity College, while she was visiting Cambridge. Newton thus became the second scientist to be given this rank. The first was Sir Francis Bacon. Isaac Newton was born in the small hamlet of Woolsthorpe in England and was raised by his maternal grandmother. It is said that, in a bid to outdo the school bully, Newton applied himself to his studies and topped the class. Despite many ups and downs, he secured a place at Trinity College, Cambridge. His education was interrupted when the university shut down because of bubonic plague. While there, he studied optics and light refraction. He said that white light was a composite of every colour on the spectrum and that light was made of particles. In 1687, he published a three-volume series called the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia. His copy of the first edition is displayed at the Cambridge University Library. Later, he was elected as a Member of Parliament and appointed Warden of the Royal Mint. His contributions to Maths, Astronomy and Physics are unparalleled. He was inspired by Rene Descartes, Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus. He said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”He died at the age of 87 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.After completing her Class XII a few years ago, Lakshmi Priya from Sivakasi faced financial constraints that prevented her from pursuing higher education. Despite her circumstances, she persevered by folding matchboxes to earn a meagre income. “I have always done this work – folding matchboxes. Many families in Sivakasi and surrounding areas do this work, from home,” said Ms.Priya who is now 19 years old. “I always wanted to learn something related to Computer Science. We did not have a proper teacher for this particular subject at school. But I managed to score 95%,” she said.
Ahead of the southwest monsoon, the officials from multiple departments were directed to carry out the standard operating procedure and ensure that all the parameters were adhered to as per the guidelines issued by the Disaster Management Plan of the Tamil Nadu government, said Theni Collector R.V. Shajeevana here on Friday.