Christmas Day marks the birth of a wise man who revealed eternal truths to humanity and reshaped the course of history: Isaac Newton. Well… sort of. Had he been born elsewhere in Europe, rather than in England, his birthday would have fallen on January 4. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Newton – the endlessly talented nerd behind the laws of motion, universal gravitation, and groundbreaking advances in optics and calculus – was born in England on December 25, 1642. According to most biographical accounts , he was born three months prematurely, so small that he could have been tucked into a quart mug. Few expected him to survive, let alone change the world.

His birth was a time when the country was being torn apart

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