#2

Now that you know where the story ends, let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?

Isaac Newton's birthplace outside of Grantham, England.  Yes, I brought an apple:

That beginning, on Christmas Day 1642, was in a small village near Grantham, England.  Grantham is about 100 miles north of London and easily accessible today by train from London.  Back then, of course, it was a much more isolated place; traveling to London, by horse, would take over three days! 

I, however, simply traveled by foot, tube (aka the “subway” to those here in the States) and commuter rail to Grantham in under 2 hours!  I left from the famous Kings Cross train station in Northeast London; think of it as the their version of North Station, perhaps.  The station is undergoing a major overhaul and modernization, and as you can see, it is certainly paying off!

Across the street, students, is St. Pancras station, where one can take one of the more famous train rides in the world- from London to Paris, in an underwater tunnel across the English Channel- known as the Chunnel!  This high-speed train connects England to mainland Europe; the train travels 186mph and the trip only takes 2.25hrs!  What do you think Newton would think of such amazing travel capabilities?

As my train sped through the English countryside, I became more and more excited to see Newton’s childhood home.  The house is protected and overseen by the National Trust; just as the National Park Service maintains houses of historical importance in the United States, the National Trust does in the UK. 

Many scientists have made pilgrimages to see Newton’s home-- called Woolsthorpe Manor.  In fact, Albert Einstein is said to have visited multiple times!  It seemed appropriate to carry one item in particular on this journey… do you know why?

Once I got to Grantham, I found a taxi to take me the final 8 miles to Woolsthorpe.  My driver, Malcolm, made sure to point out to me how close we were to Boston, England!  Interestingly, many of the original pilgrims came from Boston!

Here is the entrance to Woolsthorpe:

My first stop was to see some of the exhibitions in the science center, highlighting Newton’s work with pendulums, prisms, colored light, acceleration downs ramps, gravity tests, and orbital diameters and speeds.  You will learn much more this fall, students.

Here, colored lights were used to show Newton's famous study of optics:

An air hockey table was used to demonstrate Newton's Three Laws of Motion:

We will do a similar experiment to mimic how Newton tried to measure acceleration downs ramps of different inclines:

And lastly, this wonderful contraption was built by a high school physics teacher who happened to be there to demo it for guests!  I have a great video, students, of him demonstrating its full capabilities.  It is not a Newton's cradle, although it may remind you of one!  The idea is the same, though; it is used to demonstrate forces:

After such a busy morning, I enjoyed lunch in the courtyard.  I thought of Newton playing here as a young boy:

Next, onto his house!  Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside; most of the original furniture is lost, and the borrowed furniture is from many different historical organizations, and not all of those organizations allow photos to be taken.  Here I am:

So, how did this home enter Newton’s family to begin with?  Newton’s grandfather Robert was a successful sheep farmer who bought the property in 1623.  This purchase brought with it the title “Lord of the Manor”, and this was an important step up in social status.  Newton’s father (also named Isaac) used this property to marry above his social standing.  When he married Hannah Ayscough, a member of a local minor gentry family, in 1639, this house and the surrounding land was given to them as part of the marriage dowry.  Unfortunately, Isaac Sr., fell ill and died a mere 6 months after being married.  Hannah was already pregnant with their first child- Isaac!

Isaac was born prematurely on Christmas Day 1642; he was considered so small and weak that he was not expected to last through the night!  Of course… he survived… and even lived until the ripe old age of 84!  And that is just one example of the many ways Newton surprised those around him.  

As I stood in the room he was born in (look at the left window on the 2^nd floor), I tried to imagine what it must have been like on that cold winter night and how Hannah had no idea she had just given birth to a child that would change history forever.

Newton and his mother lived at Woolsthorpe until Newton was 3 yrs. old.  Then, his mother received an offer of marriage from the 63 yr. old Reverend Barnabus Smith in nearby North Witham, a village about a mile away.  And so, in an interesting twist, she remarried, but left young Newton to live with her parents at Woolsthorpe!  As it was explained to me, this was a tactic to ensure that Isaac would not lose his right to inherit the house and surrounding lands.  However, it is also said that it may have happened because Rev. Smith was unenthusiastic about young Isaac.  It is unclear how often Newton saw his mother in the next 9 years. 

By all accounts, Isaac was a precocious and solitary child, and he had a great imagination.  Apparently, he did not do a good job completing his farming chores because he was more focused on his experiments!  Looking around the extensive grounds, I imagined that he must have had great fun exploring!  There are records of him making sketches on the walls, studying shadows, designing windmills, and building sundials, for example!

When Isaac was 12, however, his mother moved back home, because her second husband had died.  She brought with her three new half-siblings--- one boy and two girls.  This must have been quite a transition for Newton, especially for a child so used to being alone with his thoughts.

So far, Isaac had not had any formal schooling.  It is said that his father could not even write his own name.  His uncle, however, saw great potential in him, and pressured his mother to send him into nearby Grantham to go to school.  Hannah resisted because she thought he had not need for a formal education if he was simply going to take over the family farm.  Luckily, for all of us, Newton’s uncle won that argument and Isaac went off to study at King’s School in 1655.   In my next entry, you will learn about my visit to his school!

And later on in this blog, we will return to Woolsthorpe, to discuss the magical period from 1665-1666, when Newton returned home as a young college man, to hide from the spreading… and deadly… plague.  It was during this time, that he began his most fundamental work- and that will include the REAL story behind the apple falling from a tree at Woolsthorpe and his “discovery” of gravity!

Here is the famous apple tree:

Part 2

It is now 1654.  Imagine Isaac Newton as your age, students!  He has been living a solitary life, on his family’s farm, with only his grandparents, hired farmhands, and animals as his companions.  Most recently, his mother and his three half-siblings have returned, and they all begin living together for the very first time.  He is, by all accounts, very forgetful when it comes to completing his chores around the manor, and his mother is very frustrated with his behavior.

Yet, in a lucky twist, his paternal uncle knows the headmaster of a local school, Grammar School (now called The King’s School), and finally convinces his mother he has the intellect and capabilities that would benefit from formal schooling.  And so, Isaac goes off for the first time to live alone in the town of Grantham, 8 miles north.

I again boarded the train from London to spend a day in Grantham.  My goal: to stand in Isaac Newton’s classroom!  Just as new 7^th graders begin their O’Bryant experience each year in my classroom, I wanted to see how Isaac began his in Grantham.

After arriving in Grantham, I walked down the street and headed into town.  I knew I was in the right place when I saw this:

Grantham is a town of about 30,000 residents, and I enjoyed looking in the windows of shops and restaurants as I headed into town.  In the town square, I came across this dining and drinking establishment:

I wonder what Isaac would think of this honor today!

As I continued, I was in search of something that would alert me to the location of the rooming house where Isaac lived during the school week.  I knew it was next to the George Hotel, but I also knew the hotel was long gone.  So, how would I find it?

 Luckily, wandering pays off.  It turns out that other famous Englishmen stayed in the George Hotel, and so there were plaques in this shopping promenade marking the hotel’s former location:

There, in fact, was a small display showing a photo of the old George Hotel:

All that was left was for me to determine on which side of the hotel Isaac’s rooming house had been located!  So, I went into a few stores and asked.  No one knew.  Eventually, a local showed me that the building actually faces two different streets and there was a plaque marking the spot on the opposite side of the building.  I made it extra-large for you to read:

Can you spot the plaque?

So, here is what we actually know about Isaac’s time living there: He moved into William Clark's house in 1655 and stayed until 1660.  He did briefly move home, when he was 17, and his mother tried one last time to force him into life as a farmer, but he only lasted 9 months and then he was back to finish his studies.

While living with Mr. Clark, it was quite crowded!  Mr. Clarke had two children from his first marriage (Joseph and William), four additional step-children from a second marriage (Anne, Catherine, Edward, and Arthur), AND two new children from his second marriage (John and Martha).  It appears that Isaac did not get along well with the boys and preferred to spend what little time he did spend playing, with the girls.  He may have even made the girls doll's furniture!  One of the girls, Catherine, described his as a "sober, silent, thinking lad".  She even made note of having had an unrequited crush on him in their later teen years!

Mr. Clarke was an apothecary, which is similar to a pharmacist today.  The only notable difference is that in addition to selling medicine, apothecaries also made medicines.  There are some who think that growing up in this environment may have influenced Isaac's interest in chemistry and alchemy later in life.  There is also evidence that he made small windmills, lanterns, and sundials, and many sketches for other instruments while living with Mr. Clark.

I continued on, simply following the signs in town:

Here is what The King's School looks like today:

It is a boys school, and similar to the O’Bryant, boys are admitted based on entrance exam scores.  The British educational system is very different from our system in the U.S., and you will learn a bit more about it this fall.

With great luck, the school not only agreed to let me come and visit the room Newton studied in, but I was able to time my visit to coincide with the annual “Newton Lecture”.  This year, the speaker was Scott Mandelbrote- the co-founder of the appropriately called “Newton Project”, which is based at both Cambridge and the University of Sussex!  The Newton Project is a non-profit organization, started in 1998, dedicated to publishing in full an online edition of Newton's writings- over 5.5 million words are online so far!  The title of the lecture was: "The Impact of Newton".   He was introduced by the "Top Boy", which is our equivalent of the Senior Class President.  I enjoyed it thoroughly (and you will see many of Newton's notes and manuscripts both later in the blog and later this school year).

To learn more about The Newton Project, visit HERE.

FINALLY... here is the original room where Newton studied!  After a recent fundraising effort, the roof was replaced; the day of my visit was both the occasion of the Newton Lecture and the official unveiling.  It will be used in the future to host school assemblies and presentations:

When Newton was at school, the curriculum consisted mostly of Latin and Greek, with some Mathematics thrown in.  It appears that Newton was bored, did not try hard, and scored at the bottom of his class.  Until, one day, the story goes, when everything changed.  Newton had been a victim of bulling while at school, but on this one day, he chose to challenge the bully to a fight in the nearby churchyard.  Although Isaac was smaller, he won, but he was not content to just beat him physically- he decided he wanted to beat him intellectually as well!  And so, he directed his anger into his school work and soon rose to being the best pupil in the school!

To learn more about the fundraising effort, and to read many more details on Newton's life at school and in Grantham, visit HERE!

After the lecture, there was one more last treat in store for me- the Grantham Historical Society was unveiling this plaque on the original school house!

After the unveiling, I was welcomed to a reception.  Next to the reception room, there was not only bust of Newton on display, but a framed copy of his ENTIRE family tree!  Perhaps one of you will have a similar display at the O’Bryant in the not-so-distant future?

It was a great opportunity, to say the least.  My sincere thanks to Ms. Orrey, assistant to the Headmaster, for coordinating my visit.  To learn more about The King's School, visit HERE.

Here I am outside the original school house:

I will leave you with one last image.  Newton carved his name into the windowsill on the schoolhouse.  I do not encourage you to do this in my classroom, students, unless you can assure me you are going to be just as accomplished and famous!