British physicist and mathematician

In 1668 Newton became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He published Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) in 1687, where he states the three laws of motion, which bear his name as well as his law of universal gravitation. Elected President of the Royal Society in 1703. In 1704 published his life's work on light in Opticks. He was knighted in 1705. The SI unit of force is named after him.