Isaac Newton / 艾萨克·牛顿

Isaac Newton is famous across the world for his discovery of gravity and the invention of calculus.

艾萨克·牛顿因为发现重力和发明微积分而闻名世界。

When Isaac Newton was born, there were a lot of factors threatening his survival. He was born prematurely on Christmas morning in 1642 and was a very small baby. His family thought he might die shortly after birth. On top of that, England was in the midst of a civil war, and the plague was raging across Europe, claiming many lives.

艾萨克·牛顿出生的时候，有很多因素威胁着他的生存。他在1642年的圣诞节早晨早产，还是个非常小的婴儿。他的家人认为他出生后可能很快就会死亡。此外，当时英格兰正发生内战，瘟疫也在欧洲肆虐，夺去了大量人的生命。

Despite these threats, Isaac survived. However, his survival did not mean that his childhood was easy. His father died soon after his birth and when Isaac was 3 years old, his mother remarried. His mother and step-father did not want Isaac and sent him to live with his grandmother. This rejection by his parents scarred Isaac Newton for life. He hated his step-father and at one point he threatened to burn down his parent’s house.

尽管面临这些威胁，艾萨克还是活了下来。不过，他的生存并不意味着他的童年轻松。他父亲在他出生后不久就去世了，而且当艾萨克三岁时，他母亲又再婚了。他的母亲和继父不想要艾萨克，把他送去和祖母一起生活。父母的这种拒绝让艾萨克·牛顿一生都留下了阴影。他恨他的继父，有一段时间甚至威胁要烧掉父母的房子。

Isaac found solace in books. He love to read about science and technology. Although his mother wanted him to eventually run the family farm, other family members and teachers realised that Isaac was destined to become an academic.

艾萨克在书籍中找到了慰藉。他喜欢阅读关于科学和技术的书。虽然他的母亲希望他最终继承家族农场，但其他家人和老师都意识到艾萨克注定要成为一名学者。

In 1661, Isaac enrolled at Cambridge University. At Cambridge University, a professor encourage Isaac to investigate some of the dominant unsolved mathematical puzzles of the time. Isaac particularly became interested in the development of calculus, the mathematics of change.

1661年，艾萨克入读剑桥大学。在剑桥大学，一位教授鼓励艾萨克去研究当时一些主要的未解数学难题。艾萨克特别对微积分的发展产生了兴趣，这是一种研究变化的数学。

In 1665, Cambridge University was shut down because of the plague and Isaac Newton was forced to return to his hometown. It was there that he undertook some of his most significant work. He preferred to use experimentation rather than purely postulating his theories. In addition, he inclined to keep his ideas and discoveries secret rather than sharing them with other intellectuals.

1665年，由于瘟疫，剑桥大学被迫关闭，艾萨克·牛顿不得不回到家乡。正是在那里，他做了一些最重要的工作。他更喜欢通过实验而且不是单纯地假设理论。此外，他倾向于把自己的想法和发现保密，而且不是与其他学者分享。

During this time, Newton conducted experiments on light and colour, and invented a new type of telescope. He did not like to share the details of his discoveries and when other scientist tried to reproduce his results or ask questions, Newton would become angry. Not wishing to reveal any further details about his work, he began to avoid other scientists.

在这段时间里，牛顿进行了一些关于光和颜色的实验，还发明了一种新型望远镜。他不喜欢分享自己发现的细节，当其他科学家试图重复他的实验结果或者提问时，牛顿会生气。为了不透露更多关于他工作的细节，他开始避免与其他科学家接触。

When, in 1684, Gottfried Leibniz published a revolutionary new paper on calculus, Newton accused Leibniz of stealing his work. Newton had to hastily retrieve his notes on calculus to prove his contribution to this mathematical topic. He spent the next 2 years collating his work from over the past 20 years into a book which is known as the ‘ Principia Mathematica’. This book set out in detail his theories on the 3 laws of motion, calculus and gravity.

1684年，当戈特弗里德·莱布尼茨发表了一篇关于微积分的革命性新论文时，牛顿指责莱布尼茨偷了他的成果。为了证明自己在这个数学领域的贡献，牛顿不得不匆忙找回自己关于微积分的笔记。接下来的两年里，他整理了过去20年积累的工作，并编写成了被称为《自然哲学的数学原理》的书。这本书详细阐述了他的三大运动定律、微积分和引力理论。

In 1689, Isaac Newton, entered politics as a Member of Parliament. Newton was a staunch Protestant and when King James II attempted to re-introduce catholic teachings at Cambridge University he was determined to prevent it. Other than religious matters, Newton had little interest or impact in politics.

1689年，艾萨克·牛顿进入政界，成为议会议员。牛顿是坚定的新教徒，当詹姆斯二世国王试图在剑桥大学重新引入天主教教义时，他决心阻止。除了宗教事务，牛顿对政治几乎没兴趣，也没有多大影响。

Newton continued to work on his scientific projects. However, in 1693, Isaac Newton had a breakdown due to mental exhaustion. During this period he believed that people, including his friends, were conspiring against him. Fortunately, after a while, he recovered sufficiently to apologise to them for his behaviour.

牛顿继续进行他的科学项目。然而，在1693年，由于精神疲惫，艾萨克·牛顿崩溃了。在这段时间里，他认为包括朋友在内的人都在密谋对付他。幸运的是，一段时间后，他恢复得差不多，向他们为自己的行为道歉了。

In 1696, Isaac Newton was given a very important project with the Royal Mint, the organisation responsible for issuing coins and banknotes in the U.K. At that time, the value of the metal was greater than the face value of the coins. In addition, 10% of all coins were forgeries. Newton recalled all the old coins and replaced them with cheaper and harder to forge versions. He also assiduously tracked down counterfeiters and prosecuted them. As a result, Isaac Newton was appointed Master of the Mint, a post that he then held for over 30 years.

1696年，艾萨克·牛顿接手了英国皇家造币厂的一项非常重要的任务，这个机构负责发行硬币和纸币。当时，金属的价值比硬币的面值还高，搜有硬币中，有百分之是伪造的。牛顿召回了所有旧硬币，并用成本更低且更难伪造的新硬币替换。他还努力追捕伪造者并起诉他们。因此，艾萨克·牛顿被任命为造币厂厂长，并且一直担任这个职位超过30年。

Newton continued to publish scientific papers and in 1703 he was elected President of the Royal Society. This is the most prestigious role that a scientist can be awarded in the U.K. However, Newton often used this role for self-promotion and provoke disputes with other leading scientists.

牛顿继续发表科学论文，1703年他被选为英国皇家学会会长。这是英国科学家能获得的最有声望的职位。不过，牛顿经常利用这个职位来提升自己，还会和其他顶尖科学家闹矛盾。

Toward the end of his life, Newton told a numbers of people that he first got the idea for gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree. This event happened at his hometown. However, over time the location of this event has been erroneously changed to Cambridge University. The detail that the apple hit Newton on the head was also added at a later date.

在他晚年的时候，牛顿告诉很多人，他最初想到万有引力的灵感是看着一个苹果从树上掉下来。这件事发生在他的家乡。不过，随着时间推移，这件事的发生地点被错误地改成了剑桥大学。后来还加上了苹果砸到牛顿头上的细节。

Isaac Newton died on the 20th March 1727. He was buried, like many very famous British people, in Westminster Abbey. His work has laid the foundations for much of today’s study of mathematics and physics. As a deeply religious man, he believed that he had been put on Earth by God to increase man’s understanding of the laws of nature. To Newton, theology and science were inextricably intertwined.

艾萨克·牛顿于1727年3月20日去世。他像许多著名的英国人一样，被安葬在威斯敏斯特教堂。他的工作为今天的数学和物理学研究奠定了基础。作为一名虔诚的宗教信徒，他相信自己是上帝派到地球上来提高人类对自然法则理解的人。对牛顿来说，神学和科学密不可分。