Isaac Newton: Giants of Science (Giants of Science (Viking)) - Hardcover

Krull, Kathleen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670059218 ISBN 13: 9780670059218

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2006

Synopsis

What was Isaac Newton like? Secretive, vindictive, withdrawn, obsessive, and, oh, yes, brilliant. His imagination was so large that, just "by thinking on it," he invented calculus and figured out the scientific explanation of gravity.Yet Newton was so small-minded that he set out to destroy other scientists who dared question his findings. Here is a compelling portrait of Newton, contradictions and all, that places him against the backdrop of 17th-century England, a time of plague, the Great Fire of London, and two revolutions.

About this title

About the Author:

Kathleen Krull is known for her popular award-winning biographies and social histories, including the Lives of ... series. She lives in San Diego, California. Boris Kulikov lives in New York City.

From School Library Journal:

Starred Review. Grade 5-7–Krull fulfills the promise of the outstanding previous volume in this series, Leonardo da Vinci (Viking, 2005) with this follow-up. Writing in a style aptly described in the blurb as juicily anecdotal (a tone reflected in Kulikovs witty illustrations), she offers a multifaceted portrait of a genius who was both brilliant and several slices short of a loaf, capable of revolutionary insights into science but also rude, jealous, and secretive. Along with presenting lucid, animated descriptions of Newtons major achievements, from calculus and the laws of motion to the reflecting telescope (a cool new toy that earned him instant election to the Royal Society), the author carefully takes on such speculative topics as his religious beliefs, his homosexuality, and the possibility that his emotional imbalance was a result of poisoning caused by his obsessive alchemical experiments. Though Krull gives Newton more credit than he probably deserves for validating the scientific method, in general her assessment of his stellar position in the history of science is right on target.–John Peters, New York Public Library
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About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0670059218
• ISBN 13: 9780670059218
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 126
• Illustrator: Kulikov Boris