Newton also invented calculus, which is the math of change. You might remember it as that nightmare in high school, but it’s actually super useful. It helps us figure out how planets move, how rockets fly, and how fast your ice cream melts on a hot day.
Fun fact: a German guy named Leibniz invented calculus around the same time, and they had a huge fight over who did it first. It was the 17th-century equivalent of a Twitter spat, but with wigs and quills. Newton won the PR war because, well, he was Newton.
His version of calculus is called “fluxions,” which sounds like a fancy name for sneezes. But trust me, it changed everything from engineering to economics.
Light and Color: When Newton Got Prismatic
Newton also messed around with light. He took a glass prism and shot a beam of sunlight through it. Out came a rainbow. People before him thought the prism added color to light. Newton said, “Nope, the colors are already in the light, you just can’t see them.”
He then used a second prism to recombine the colors back into white light. It was like magic, but real. This discovery led to the theory of color and, eventually, your fancy LED screen. You can thank Newton next time you binge-watch a show in 4K.
He also built a telescope using a mirror instead of lenses, which was a huge deal. Lens-based telescopes had fuzzy images; Newton’s mirror telescope was sharp. It’s called a reflecting telescope, and it’s still used by astronomers today. No more blurry aliens.
