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Thu November 21 2019, 1:00 // Posted by corvum

CORVUM Hero Spotlight + Staff Feature: Mohamed & Newton

Mohamed Laradji is “The Phone Guy” or to get technical on you – he is an Algorithms & Backend Developer. To find out more about this rad human click here! Mohamed’s pick for Corvum’s hero spotlight is Isaac Newton, one of the original influencers – of scientific discovery that is!

A mathematician and physicist, Newton is most famous for his laws of motion, having an apple fall on his head (universal gravitation), and his contributions to infinitesimal calculus. The apple didn’t actually fall on his head as myth would have it, however, its descent from branch to earth struck Newton with a “contemplative mood” as described by William Stukeley in Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life: “why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground… why should it not go sideways, or upwards, but constantly to the earth’s centre?” He later figured out why because of his deep sense of curiosity and openness. Newton asked questions and yearned to understand things which lead him to discover amazing things. Like, oh ya know, gravity!

Newton made many important contributions to mathematics and invented the first reflecting telescope. Cool! While, Newton’s three laws of motion were later superseded by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, they are still accurate enough to be extensively used for most engineering applications, including space flight. Newton used calculus along with the laws of motion and gravitation to mathematically derive the motions of planets in our Solar system. Wowee!

An apple falling to the ground to figuring out the motion of planets – inspiring! Or as MacGyver would put it: “How can you feel confined when you’re in touch with the universe?” There is always so much more to discover and learn, and we think that is pretty darn exciting.