Introduction

Abstract

In Michael White’s biography of Isaac Newton he states, “According to a list of the most influential people in history, The 100, Isaac Newton ranks number 2 – after Muhammad and ahead of Jesus Christ”. An extraordinary statement written at the close of the twentieth century; a century of turmoil and rapid technological change, a century in which scientific changes and development have brought about the contrast of extreme misery and poverty, with massive prosperity and wealth. Moreover, in 1999, The Sunday Times named Newton its “Man of the Millennium”. For a scientist who died in the early eighteenth century to be considered so influential despite the duration of time and change, not only in science but also in attitude and thought, is unique.