Sir Isaac Newton was an influential English scientist born in 1642 who made important discoveries in physics and mathematics. He developed the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. Newton studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and was a professor there, making his key discoveries while the university was closed from 1664 to 1666. These included establishing that white light is made of all the colors of the rainbow and deducing that the force that causes apples and the moon to fall is the same force that governs the entire universe.