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Catharine Cox's 1926 study assigned Newton a childhood-records-based estimate of 130 and an adult-achievement-corrected estimate of 190. The methodology rewarded subjects whose childhood records contained precocious accomplishments; Newton's rural childhood at Woolsthorpe Manor produced fewer such records than urban-aristocrat subjects, which Cox's framework treats as missing precocity rather than missing documentation.

Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) is the foundational text of classical mechanics, formalizing the three laws of motion and universal gravitation. He independently developed calculus around the same time as Leibniz, sparking a famous priority dispute. His Opticks (1704) established the wave-and-particle treatment of light.

Later in life he served as Master of the Royal Mint, where he successfully prosecuted counterfeiters and oversaw the recoinage of England. He was knighted in 1705 and was president of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death.