Dinner with a Historical Figure by Caleb

Dinner with a Historical Figure by Caleb - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I could have dinner with any historical figure, it would most certainly be Sir Isaac Newton. Of all the historical scientists I know of, Newton interests me the most. Most people know him for the story of the apple falling from the tree, but he has many other great contributions to math and science. His three laws of motion set forth the basis for all modern physics, and he was one of the first two people who discovered calculus. He also researched heavily into optics, refraction, and light.
Having dinner with a mind like his would simply be amazing. We could discuss science and math, and compare how these were viewed in his time and in ours. It would engross me to hear how people back then reacted to his discoveries, and to see how he would react to knowing that he’s now one of the most respected scientists of all time. He even has a unit of measurement named after him!
I would ask him how much truth there is to the apple story, and how he went from there to discover that everything had gravity relative to its mass. I would also ask how and why he went about discovering derivatives, integrals, and calculus, and why he chose the notation he did. As he lectured at Cambridge, it would be fascinating to hear how colleges functioned back then compared to how they function today.
All in all, Sir Isaac Newton is one of the smartest and most interesting scientists and mathematicians in history, so it would be tremendous to be able to have dinner and talk with him about the differences in our times and his discoveries.