Isaac Newton

Lived approx. 1643 to 1727, England

Notable Quotes:  

"If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants."  
Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke

Newton's epitaph: "Who, by vigor of mind almost divine, the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the seas first demonstrated."

"I know not what I appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell, whilest the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Quoted in D Brewster, Memoirs of Newton

"Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things."

Famous for inventing calculus along with Leibniz.

Author of The Principia, the most important scientific work ever written.
 

Biographical Info

Newton Biography at MacTutor http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Newton.html

Wolfram biography
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Newton.html
 

Links and Activities

CyberChase Function game for approx. Gr. 3-5 - MONSTER FROG FUNCTION MACHINE 
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/parentsteachers/lessons/lessonplans/lesson12.html

The most comprehensive and accessible resource for younger kids I have seen that explains the ideas of calculus in comprehensible terms is Don Cohen's Calculus by and for Young People The website can be a bit difficult to navigate, but there are excellent resources here. Sample problems can be found here: 
http://www.mathman.biz/html/chapters.html

Examples of how children have used the lessons in original work are found here:
http://www.mathman.biz/html/discover.html

Puzzles and activities for all ages that relate to calculus ideas are found here:
http://www.mathman.biz/html/puzzles.html

This is a site that contains many teacher support videos. This link has several videos that describe what a function is, and functions are fundamental to calculus and physics.  
http://www.learner.org/resources/series66.html

Function machine game - from simple to more complex http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/functionmachines.html

The Science Spot Physics Lessons for Kids http://www.sciencespot.net/Pages/classphys.html

NASA Site for Newton's Laws of Motion http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/newton.html

Zoom Astronomy Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/glossary/Newton.shtml

This is a very good site for Newton's physics developed for elementary / middle school: http://www.can-do.com/uci/ssi2001/newtonsphysicsnb.html

Sir Isaac Newton and His Laws Activities http://www.caosclub.org/members/caosho9.html

Light, Prisms, & the Rainbow
http://www.molecularexpressions.com/optics/activities/teachers/prisms.html

1,2,3,Isaac Newton & Me (HS Level)
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Physics/PHS0033.html

Newton Quiz on Laws of Motion http://www.quia.com/jq/19675.html

Newton's “Cradle” - Did you know that those toys of colliding balls were invented by Newton? A picture can be found here: 
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/scenario/cradle.htm

Soccer on the Moon - What would happen if you played soccer on the moon?
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/projects/frig/fbbyjcar/soccer.html