British: (Sir) Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Considered by many as the single greatest work in the history of science, it describes universal gravitation and the three laws of motion.
A primary protagonist in the development of: the telescope; theories of gravitation; color–spectrum theory; laws of cooling; theories on the speed of sound; and the calculus, among other extraordinary contributions/achievements.
On another front, Newton learned Hebrew so he could study the Bible (Torah) in the original. Newton actually wrote more on Religion, Bible, and Religious Philosophy than he did on science, but his works in these areas did not achieve significant lasting traction.