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Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists and among the most influential scientists of all time. He was a key figure in the philosophical revolution known as the Enlightenment. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus.
In the Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton used his mathematical description of gravity to derive Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account for tides, the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes and other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the Solar System's heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same principles. Newton's inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later confirmed by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine, and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.
Phillis Wheatley or Phillis Wheatley Peters was an American poet born in Africa.
A native of West Africa, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped as a young child and sold as a slave in 1761 to John and Susanna Wheatley in Boston. They chose the name Phyllis for her in honor of the ship on which the girl traveled the Middle Passage. The Wheatley family quickly recognized her intellectual abilities and encouraged her study of the classics. Phyllis began writing poems and verses, and some were even published when she was only 14 years old.
However, the 18th-century public had great difficulty accepting a black slave girl as a writer. In May 1773, Wheatley traveled to London with her master's son. There her first book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published. Wheatley's literary talent and personal qualities contributed to her great social success in London. In the fall of 1773, Phyllis returned to the United States and Wheatley was granted her freedom. She married, but lived only 31 years.
Wheatley's most famous poem today, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (1768), directly addresses the theme of slavery.
