Science Challenge #9 "THE STUMPER!" What was his name? Of himself he is reputed to have said, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Others say of him that there never was, nor will there ever be, a greater scientist. He formulated his ideas and theories in an era when science was still young and all of scientific knowledge could be written in just a few volumes. Today, after three centuries, this scientist's theories (called laws) governing motion in the universe are still relied upon by scientists and engineers.

Answer: ISAAC NEWTON Isaac Newton was born in 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire England. He probably did his most serious thinking at his home in Woolsthorpe during the eighteen months he spent there avoiding the Great Plague of 1665-6. He had an aversion to publishing his ideas and we owe a debt of gratitude to his friend the astronomer Edmund Halley who was responsible for encouraging Newton to publish his theories. Correct responses received from: Sid Gospe, David Hansmith, "The Curator", Julie Angle, Jason Coffer, Karen Ramaeker, Ron Kihara, Merridy & Peter Hance, Beth Rowen, Tara, Richard Yamagata