Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, philosopher and alchemist. A man of profound genius, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. He is associated with the scientific revolution and the advancement of heliocentrism. Among his scientific accomplishments, Newton wrote the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, wherein he described universal gravitation and, via his laws of motion, laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. With Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz he shares credit for the development of differential calculus. Newton was the first to promulgate a set of natural laws that could govern both terrestrial motion and celestial motion, and is credited with providing mathematical substantiation for Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which he expanded by arguing that orbits (such as those of comets) could include all conic sections (such as the ellipse, hyperbola, and parabola).

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1545: Counter-Reformation: The Council of Trent, an ecumenical council convoked by Pope Paul III in response to the growth of Protestantism, opened in Trento, Italy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent)

1862: American Civil War: Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside were decisively defeated in the Battle of Fredericksburg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg)

1937: Nanking Massacre: Japanese forces under General Iwane Matsui captured Nanjing, China and began weeks of looting, burning, raping and killing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre)

1981: Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland, suspended Solidarity and imprisoned many union leaders. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojciech_Jaruzelski)

2003: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (pictured) was found hiding in a spider hole during Operation Red Dawn and captured. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Red_Dawn)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

The maple tree that nightWithout a wind or rainLet go its leavesBecause its time had come. -- Eugene McCarthy -- (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_McCarthy)