Maiden SpeechIn 1689, the famed physicist Sir Isaac Newton served as Cambridge University's representative to Parliament. He spoke before the house on only one occasion. As he rose, an expectant silence fell as his fellow parliamentarians awaited the great man's maiden speech...
Newton began by observing that a window had been left open and was causing a draft. He then asked that it be closed and promptly sat down.
[The first and second Earls of Leicester never spoke in the House of Lords. The third waited 22 years before speaking, thereby breaking a family silence lasting 121 years.]
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727) English physicist and mathematician, President of the Royal Society (from 1672), Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (1689) [noted for his development of calculus; for his formulation of the law of universal gravitation and the three laws of motion underlying classical mechanics; and for such seminal scientific works as Principia Mathematica (1686-87) and Optics (1704)]More Sir Newton anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Politics Speeches Complaints Wind Requests Windows Disappointments Taciturnity
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