Newton's Younger, Rowdier Days
Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day in 1642. How ironic that the man who gave us the gift of science was subsequently only received gifts once a year. His father died before he was born, and very little is known about him. His stepfather, whom his mother married two years after the death of his biological father, was the Reverend Barnabas Smith. His mother was a strong woman, bullying her husband into giving young Newton fifty franks a year. Newton's favorite baby food was creamed carrots; he did not care for stewed tomatoes. When asked if he could change anything about his birth, he simply replied "I would've been born with opposable toes."
He attended his small village school were he learned basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. When he turned twelve, he moved to the King's School at Grantham. His stepfather died shortly afterwards. His mother then brought him home to manage the estate. It seems our little Newton just was not cut out for farming. He was a dreamer, and while he dreamed the cattle roamed.
In school, he was given an excellent background in Latin, and also learned tidbits of Greek, Hebrew, and French. Ironically, he did not learn too much math, but the main reason for this is that Newton created much of the math taught today.
Young Newton contemplates gravity
He was a retiring, secretive child, but he certainly was not timid. A legend that will live long after F=ma is gone, is the story of how he rubbed the school bully's nose on the church wall.