After 1685, Newton again encountered the problem of a monarch who tried to mingle politics, religion and education. The new king, James II, wanted Trinity College to award unearned degrees to those whose religious beliefs agreed with his own. Because they would not do this, Newton and eight other teachers from Trinity College were brought before the High Court on trumped-up charges. Although the charges were rightfully dismissed, the episode had been a great strain on the men.

Newton had a huge impact on society. His studies in mathematics led to the formation of modern calculus. Through his formulas, ways were found to solve areas space occupied by anything placed along a curved surface. That was by far his greatest accomplishment in the field of math. His laws of motion and gravitation also laid the foundation for modern physics as well. All in all, Sir Isaac Newton was one of, if not the most, influential fathers of modern Calculus and all other fields of mathematics. Without his formulas, most of the things that we do in math would be impossible.

Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Motion describes what happens when an external force acts upon a massive body at rest or in uniform linear motion. What happens to the body from which that external force is being applied? That situation is described by Newton’s Third Law of Motion. It states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”