

When he returned to Trinity in 1667, he was elected a fellow. However, Newton did not start publishing his findings in this field until the late 17th-century. He also began his work on the theory of calculus during the Plague period of isolation. Photo of a replica of Isaac Newton’s first Reflecting Telescope, via Science Museum Group From this, he discovered that color is a property intrinsic to light! Many other optics discoveries followed, including the invention of the first functional reflecting telescope. During this period, Isaac observed that a ray of light exiting a prism is oblong, even if it is round when it enters the prism. He worked extensively on theories of calculus and optics, as well as the nascent beginnings of his theory of gravity. Isaac spent the next two years in isolation at his home. However, in 1665, immediately after he achieved his undergraduate-equivalent degree the school closed during the Great Plague. In 1664, he was awarded a scholarship and could finish his studies without working. He spent the first three years at Trinity paying his way as a valet, or personal men’s servant. However, he rebelled against her urging and entered Trinity College at Cambridge in 1661. She wanted Isaac to become a farmer, to support her and her other children. Her second husband had died, leaving her a widow again. When Isaac was 17, his mother pulled him out of school. Despite the schoolyard's difficulties, he quickly became the top student in the school. Isaac was sent to a boarding school from the ages of 12 to 17, where he was relentlessly bullied. His father died before his birth, so he was raised by his mother until the age of three when she remarried and left him with his grandmother. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642, in Lincolnshire, England.
