One of the most famous scientists of all time was Sir Isaac Newton. Born in 1642 and passing away in 1727, Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and polymath. Newton is best known for his laws of motion and universal gravitation. He also developed calculus and made important contributions to the field of optics. Newton was the first to prove that white light is composed of a a spectrum of colours (or a mixture of seven distinct colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).