On this day in 1643, in the village of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Isaac Newton entered the world. Although to the people then, it wasn’t January 4—it was Christmas Day, 1642.
The great adjustment of dates that took place in 1752 changed calendars retrospectively—the shift from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar in Britain (and to January 1 being the start of the year, instead of March 25), required the skipping of 11 days that September, so people went to bed on September 2nd, and woke up on September 14th. So Isaac Newton’s birthday slid into January, and from 1642 to 1643. (Washington’s birthday also got moved, from Feb 11, 1731, O.S., to Feb 22, 1732, N.S.)
