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How Did Isaac Newton Contribute To The Discovery Of The Telescope

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Possibly one of the most decorated figures of the seventeenth century, scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton revolutionized the world of physics, mathematics, and science. The physicist was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, United Kingdom. Despite being born prematurely and, thus, being extremely weak, Newton survived infancy and during his childhood, his mother raised and expected him to become a farmer. However, he lacked talent in cultivation, so his mother decided to enroll him in King Edward XIV Grammar School. Thereafter, Newton attended the Trinity College at Cambridge University, where his professors expected him to study the work of the philosopher Aristotle. However, he developed a passionate interest in advanced math and …show more content…

Before his invention, astronomers constantly faced problems with refracting telescopes like chromatic aberration, which caused lenses to blur and produced colored edges around objects the telescope viewed. Newton’s Gift explains that “Newton solved this problem by placing two mirrors at oblique angles to the stream of light. One reflected the image onto the other, and thence to the viewer. It was an ingenious and delicate design” (Berlinski 80). The reflecting telescope was considered revolutionary upon Newton revealing it for the first time. In addition to preventing colored outlines around objects, the telescope also magnified objects, allowing astronomers to get an up-close view of the universe for the first time. Even over a hundred years after its creation, the reflecting telescope was still proving itself to be more effective than the refracting telescope that had been used for so long before. For instance, in 1781 William Herschel, an 18th century astronomer, used his own model of the reflecting telescope to discover the planet Uranus, which was the first planet to be discovered with technology—as opposed to just the human eye. In addition to being the first to see Uranus, Herschel also used a reflecting telescope to find two of Saturn’s moons. More recently, in 1990, perhaps one of the most famous reflecting telescopes was put into the universe—the Hubble Space Telescope. Since then, the telescope has allowed mankind to make incredible discoveries. For instance, Nationalgeographic.com wrote, “Hubble [Space Telescope] played a key role in discovering that a mysterious form of energy called dark energy is acting like a cosmic gas pedal, accelerating the universe’s expansion rate.” All in all, Newton’s creation of the reflecting telescope was a major

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