Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and physicist who is the culminating figure of the Scientific Revolution.

His book, 'Principia Mathematica,' published in 1687, is one of the most important scientific works ever written.

The 'Principia' laid out his three laws of motion, which form the foundation of classical mechanics.

The first law states that an object in motion stays in motion; the second relates force to mass and acceleration (F=ma); the third states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton also formulated the law of universal gravitation.

This law states that every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

His law of gravity explained for the first time, with a single principle, both the falling of objects on Earth and the orbits of the planets.

To develop his theories, Newton independently invented a powerful new branch of mathematics called calculus.

He also made groundbreaking discoveries in optics, demonstrating that white light is composed of a spectrum of colors.

The Newtonian synthesis created a comprehensive mechanical model of the universe that dominated scientific thought for over 200 years.