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Birth and Childhood Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, 1642, at the small manor of Woolsthorpe, about six miles south of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. He was the son of Robert, a farmer, and his wife Harriet. Robert had died only a few months after his marriage and three months before Isaac’s birth. Born prematurely, Isaac was said to have been so small that he could have been put into a quart mug. He was so weak that two women sent to fetch medicine for him did not expect to find him alive on their return. When Isaac was three, his mother married the Reverend Barnabas Smith, a well-to-do rector, and went to live in the nearby village of North Witham. Isaac remained at Woolsthorpe, where his grandparents raised him and began his education.

Isaac Newton’s birthplace at Woolsthorpe, a small village near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England

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