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English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his law of gravitation, was instrumental in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

Born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, England

With discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics, Newton developed the principles of modern physics. In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which has been called the single most influential book on physics. Newton died in London on March 31, 1727.

With discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics, Newton developed the principles of modern physics. In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which has been called the single most influential book on physics. Newton died in London on March 31, 1727.

When he was3 his mum remarried a minister and sent him to live with his grandmother, giving him self confidence issues.

His mum came back when he was 12 with three children because her second husband had died

Newton had been enrolled at the King's School in Grantham, a town in Lincolnshire, where he lodged with a local apothecary and was introduced to the fascinating world of chemistry. His mother pulled him out of school, for her plan was to make him a farmer and have him tend the farm. Newton failed miserably, he soon was sent back to King's School to finish his basic education. Perhaps sensing the young man's innate intellectual abilities, his uncle, a graduate of the University of Cambridge's Trinity College, persuaded Newton's mother to have him enter the university. Newton enrolled in a program similar to a work-study in 1661, and subsequently waited on tables and took care of wealthier students' rooms.

When Newton arrived at Cambridge, the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century was already at its zenith.

Though Newton graduated with no honors or distinctions, his efforts won him the title of scholar and four years of financial support for future education. Unfortunately, in 1665, the Great Plague that was ravaging Europe had come to Cambridge, forcing the university to close. Newton returned home to pursue his private study. It was during this 18-month hiatus that he conceived the method of infinitesimal calculus, set foundations for his theory of light and color, and gained significant insight into the laws of planetary motion—insights that eventually led to the publication of his Principia in 1687. Legend has it that, at this time, Newton experienced his famous inspiration of gravity with the falling apple.

When the threat of plague subsided in 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge and was elected a minor fellow at Trinity College, as he was still not considered a standout scholar. However, in the ensuing years, his fortune improved. Newton received his Master of Arts degree in 1669, before he was 27. During this time, he came across Nicholas Mercator's published book on methods for dealing with infinite series. Newton quickly wrote a treatise, De Analysi, expounding his own wider-ranging results. He shared this with friend and mentor Isaac Barrow, but didn't include his name as author.

In June 1669, Barrow shared the unaccredited manuscript with British mathematician John Collins. In August 1669, Barrow identified its author to Collins as "Mr. Newton ... very young ... but of an extraordinary genius and proficiency in these things." Newton's work was brought to the attention of the mathematics community for the first time. Shortly afterward, Barrow resigned his Lucasian professorship at Cambridge, and Newton took his place.

Part of Newton's study of optics was aided with the use of a reflecting telescope that he designed and constructed in 1668—his first major public scientific achievement. This invention helped prove his theory of light and color. The Royal Society asked for a demonstration of his reflecting telescope in 1671, and the organization's interest encouraged Newton to publish his notes on light, optics and color in 1672; these notes were later published as part of Newton's Optics: Or, A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light.

The work offers an exact quantitative description of bodies in motion in three basic laws: 1) A stationary body will stay stationary unless an external force is applied to it; 2) Force is equal to mass times acceleration, and a change in motion is proportional to the force applied; and 3) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These three laws helped explain not only elliptical planetary orbits but nearly every other motion in the universe: how the planets are kept in orbit by the pull of the sun’s gravity; how the moon revolves around Earth and the moons of Jupiter revolve around it; and how comets revolve in elliptical orbits around the sun.

The laws also allowed Newton to calculate the mass of each planet, calculate the flattening of the Earth at the poles and the bulge at the equator, and how the gravitational pull of the sun and moon create the Earth’s tides. In Newton's account, gravity kept the universe balanced, made it work, and brought heaven and earth together in one great equation.

Upon the publication of the first edition of Principia, Robert Hooke immediately accused Newton of plagiarism, claiming that he had discovered the theory of inverse squares and that Newton had stolen his work. The charge was unfounded, as most scientists knew, for Hooke had only theorized on the idea and had never brought it to any level of proof. However, Newton was furious and strongly defended his discoveries.

He withdrew all references to Hooke in his notes and threatened to withdraw from publishing the subsequent edition of Principia altogether. Halley, who had invested much of himself in Newton's work, tried to make peace between the two men. While Newton begrudgingly agreed to insert a joint acknowledgement of Hooke's work (shared with Wren and Halley) in his discussion of the law of inverse squares, it did nothing to placate Hooke.

As the years went on, Hooke's life began to unravel. His beloved niece and companion died the same year that Principia was published, in 1687. As Newton's reputation and fame grew, Hooke's declined, causing him to become even more bitter and loathsome toward his rival. To the bitter end, Hooke took every opportunity he could to offend Newton. Knowing that his rival would soon be elected president of the Royal Society, Hooke refused to retire until the year of his death, in 1703.

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Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723) was a Dutch tradesman and scientist, best known for his work on the development and improvement of the microscope and also for his subsequent contribution towards the study of microbiology.

Using handcrafted microscopes, Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe and describe single celled organisms, which he originally referred to as animalcules (which we now refer to as microorganisms). He was also the first to record and observe muscle fibres, bacteria, spermatozoa and blood flow in capillaries (small blood vessels).

Born in Delft, the Netherlands, on October 24, 1632, Anton van Leeuwenhoek (in Dutch Antonie van Leeuwenhoek) was the son of a basket maker. At the age of 16, van Leeuwenhoek secured an apprenticeship with a cloth merchant in Amsterdam as a bookkeeper and casher. There he saw his first simple microscope, a simple magnifying glass mounted on a small stand, as used by cloth merchants of the time. After a short period, had acquired one for his own use.

In 1654, van Leeuwenhoek returned to Delft where he started a own successful drapery business.

And at some time before 1668, Anton van Leeuwenhoek had learned to grind lenses, making simple microscopes, which he used to make simple observations. Seemingly inspired to into more serious research after seeing a copy of Robert Hooke's illustrated book Micrographia, which depicted Hooke's own observations with the microscope and was very popular, van Leeuwenhoek started developing his own microscopes.

By placing the middle of a small rod of soda lime glass in a hot flame, van Leeuwenhoek could pull the hot section apart like taffy to create two long whiskers of glass. By then reinserting the end of one whisker into the flame, he could create a very small, high-quality glass sphere. These glass spheres then became the lenses of his microscopes, with the smallest spheres providing the highest magnifications.

Compound microscopes had been invented in the 1590s, nearly forty years before Leeuwenhoek was born, however there were technical difficulties in building them, meaning that early compound microscopes had a magnification of 20x or 30x. Van Leeuwenhoek's simple magnifiers were able to achieve magnification of over 200x with to his skill in lens grinding, together with his naturally acute eyesight and great care in adjusting the lighting where he worked.

Although he himself could not draw well, he hired an illustrator to prepare drawings of the things he saw, to accompany his written descriptions.

After developing his method for creating powerful lenses and applying them to a thorough study of the microscopic world, van Leeuwenhoek was introduced via correspondence to the Royal Society of London and soon began to send copies of his recorded microscopic observations. In 1673 his earliest observations of bee mouthparts and stings were published by the Royal Society. Despite this initial success, the Royal Society questioned van Leeuwenhoek's credibility when he sent the Royal Society a copy of his first observations of microscopic single-celled organisms. Previously, the existence of single-celled organisms were entirely unknown and initially were met with scepticism. Eventually, in the face of Van Leeuwenhoek's insistence, the Royal Society sent an team of respected observers to confirm van Leeuwenhoek's observations.

Van Leeuwenhoek's vindication resulted in his appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society in that year. After his appointment to the Society, he wrote approximately 560 letters to the Society and other scientific institutions over a period of 50 years, detailing the subjects he had investigated.

Anthony van Leeuwenhoek succeeded in making some of the most important discoveries in the history of biology, considered as "the Father of Microbiology”.

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While working as a scientist, Hooke developed a sideline career as an architect. People liked his designs for buildings, and he was appointed to be Surveyor to the City of London. In fact, he made much more money as an architect than as a scientist, because he designed many of the buildings which replaced those destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

His scientific discoveries included; the measurement of time, Hooke's law, micrographic and microscopy, micrographic and paleontology, and the force of gravity.

At around age 20 Hooke decided to focus more on science

His abilities in working with mechanical instruments had become very skillful, and he worked in Oxford as an assistant to one of the founders of modern chemistry, Robert Boyle. Hooke worked with Boyle for seven years; during this time Boyle discovered Boyle’s Law with equipment designed and built largely by Hooke.

At age 27, Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments for the newly founded Royal Society, whose purpose was to advance scientific understanding of the world.

As Curator he was responsible for the experiments conducted by the Society. Hooke’s time with Boyle had won him admiration in the scientific world. Boyle, who was a founding member of the Royal Society, was thanked by them for releasing Hooke to work for them.

Hooke’s position, with responsibility for experiments, was an important one for such a young man to hold. The Royal Society, with its motto Nullus In Verba – Take Nobody’s Word For It – was based around its experiments.

Hooke moved from Oxford to London, where he held the Curator’s position for forty years.

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http://www.biography.com/people/isaac-newton-9422656

http://www.history-of-the-microscope.org/anton-van-leeuwenhoek-microscope-history.php

https://www.famousscientists.org/robert-hooke/