I work across mathematics, physics, astronomy and optics. My Principia states the laws of motion and universal gravitation, I built calculus, and I showed that white light is a spectrum of colours.
The person outside the work — what they're learning and tinkering with.
An undistinguished Cambridge student, I taught myself from Aristotle, Descartes and Galileo through private notebooks; in 1669 I succeeded Isaac Barrow as Lucasian Professor, yet my lectures were almost always empty.
I wrote this line to Robert Hooke in February 1675, during our dispute over optical discoveries. It is the sentence of mine most quoted about how science builds on earlier research.
