1659 lVincenzo Viviani, a student of Galileo’s, is responsible for
the discovery and restoration of a lost book on conic sections
written by Apollonius.1661 lNewton enters Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of 18.
He receives financial aid from the school, and in exchange is
expected to work as a servant for the wealthier students.1662 lWith the help of his connection to King Charles II,
VISCOUNT WILLIAM BROUNCKERhelps cofound the Royal
Society of London, and is elected as its first president.1663 lJAMES GREGORYpublishes his book, Optica Promota,in
which he gives the mathematical computations for his new
invention, the first reflecting telescope.lNewton borrows a copy of Euclid’s Elementsto try to grasp
an understanding of the computations in an astronomy book.
This is his first real look at mathematics. He is 20 years old.1665 lThe plague forces Cambridge University to close, and
Newton returns to his family’s home. In the following year
and a half, he will make discoveries that change the nature of
physics, optics, astronomy, and mathematics.1671 lNewton writes De Methodis Serierum et Floxionum,his
work on calculus. He does nothing to get it published, and it
will remain virtually unknown until it is translated into
English and printed in 1736. Newton’s slowness to publish
causes many of the problems that later plague him and
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZin their dispute over who
invented calculus.1672 lJohn Pell publishes the first table of SQUAREnumbers.
lNewton donates a reflecting telescope to the Royal Society
of London. They elect him as a fellow into the society, and
publish his article on optics.1675 lMathematician and inventor Robert Hooke has a balance
spring watch made under his direction, based on his
mathematical discoveries of oscillations of a coiled spring.CHRONOLOGY 1659 – 1675
CHRONOLOGY 1659 – 1675