Isaac Newton

Starting about 1665, at the age of 23, Newton enunciated the principles of mechanics, formulated the law of universal gravitation, separated white light into colors, proposed a theory for the propagation of light, and invented differential and integral calculus. Newton's contributions covered an enormous range of natural phenomena: He was thus able to show that not only Kepler's laws of planetary motion but also Galileo's discoveries of falling bodies follow a combination of his own second law of motion and the law of gravitation, and to predict the appearance of comets, explain the effect of the moon in producing the tides, and explain the precession of the equinoxes.