Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), one of the most important figures in the history of science, made significant contributions in the fields of physics, astronomy, and mathematics. In his Principia (1687) -- considered by many the greatest work of modern science -- he explained the laws of motion and universal gravitation. Newton discovered that sunlight is a mixture of different colours and demonstrated his theory by passing a beam of sunlight through a prism which dispersed the beam into separate colours.

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