January 4: Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1643, on this date according to the calendar we use today.

1. Although, at the time Newton was born, England was using the Julian Calendar, which was 10 days behind the calendar we use today. In terms of that calendar, he was born on Christmas Day. This has given rise to a celebration called "Newtonmas" which atheists and skeptics use as an alternative to Christmas. Newtonmas greeting cards read "Reason's Greetings" and apples and science related gifts are exchanged.
2. While on the subject of Apples, was the tale that Newton was inspired to study gravity by an apple falling on his head a myth? Yes, and no. Newton himself said that apples falling from trees was his inspiration, but there is no evidence that an apple actually hit him on the head.
3. From the age of 12 to 17, Newton was not taught any mathematics in school.
4. Newton was a member of Parliament for Cambridge University in 1689–90 and 1701–2, but it's said that he only ever spoke to complain about a cold draught in the chamber and request that the Window be closed.
5. He was more influential in another of his posts, as Warden of the Royal Mint in the last 30 years of his life. He reformed England's coinage system and worked out ways to track down and prosecute counterfeiters.
6. Newton was the second scientist to be knighted, after Sir Francis Bacon.
7. Newton is known as a great scientist, but he was just as interested in alchemy and looking for the Philosopher’s Stone. In his day, though, alchemy was virtually a branch of science, and some of Newton's greatest discoveries arose from his alchemical studies. John Maynard Keynes, once said that "Newton was not the first of the age of reason: he was the last of the magicians."
8. Newton made predictions about the end of the world. By looking at the Bible in scientific terms, he concluded that there was no way the world would end before 2060.
9. In 1816, a tooth said to have belonged to Isaac Newton was sold for £730 (£25,000 or us$35,700 today) in London to an anonymous aristocrat who wanted it set in a ring. The Guinness World Records 2002 classified it as the most valuable tooth ever.
10. A survey of scientists in 2005 voted Newton the most influential scientist ever, beating Einstein into second place.