Intended to become a minister

Isaac then went to Trinity College at Cambridge University with the intention of becoming a Church of England minister. Again, life was not easy for him. As he was unable to afford the tuition fees, he worked many hours each day serving meals and doing other jobs for the professors in order to pay his way. Isaacs knowledge of the Bible continued to impress those around him.At that time the ideas of the ancient Greek scholars still dominated what was taught in science, and recent scientific discoveries were largely ignored. This greatly annoyed Isaac Newton who firmly believed that ideas in science should be tested and only accepted if their usefulness could be demonstrated. He was committed to the experimental method of science.

Isaac graduated in 1665, shortly before an outbreak of Black Death swept through London. All universities were closed while the plague raged. During this time, Isaac returned to his familys farm, now run by his young half brother. He continued his study and research, working on the binomial theorem, light, telescopes, calculus and theology. After supposedly seeing an apple fall in the garden, he investigated gravity, but was unable to solve the puzzle until some years later. (It should be noted that some authorities question this apple story. They say that the first mention of it came through the antireligious French philosopher and skeptic, Voltaire, who reputedly heard it from Newtons grandniece.)