On January 8, 1642 the remarkable scientist and astronomer Galileo Galilei died. At the end of the same year, on Christmas day, Isacc Newton was born. Galileo brought scientific thought to the brink of a new age. Newton would take it the rest of the way.
             One of the most famous stories about Newton was told by a friend who had an appointment to join the scientist for dinner one night in his room. He arrived and found Newton deep in thought, so he decided to sit down and wait. Newton continued to think and to make notes on the paper before him. Time passed. A servant came in with dinner and set it before Newton. More time passed. Finally the friend decided to eat the dinner himself. Shortly after, Newton looked up, startled to see his friend there. Then he saw the empty plate. He said: "If it weren't for the proof before my eyes, I could have sworn that I have not yet dined."
             One of the most famous legendary stories that some chose to believe about Newton is the one about an apple tree. One day Newton was sitting under a tree in his orchard wondering about the forces that keep the moon in orbit. At that moment an apple fell and landed with a plop beside him. It triggered an idea-- could it be that the force that pulled that apple to the earth might be the same kind of force that holds the moon in orbit round the Earth? This idea led him eventually to the law of gravitation and its application to the motion of heavenly bodies.
             In 1661, Newton entered Trinity College as a student who earned his expenses by doing menial work. Not much is know of his college days but he received his bachelors Degree in 1664, the year that the bubonic plague was sweeping Europe. The colleges closed for what turned out to be two years, so Newton went back to his hometown to do some thinking. Those two years at Woolsthorpe represent the greatest recorded achievement of a human intellect in a short period. In this short
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