Isaac Newton was knighted by Queen Anne

On April 16, 1705, Queen Anne knighted Isaac Newton during a royal visit to Trinity College, Cambridge, where Newton had once been a student and fellow. He became, by most accounts, the first scientist honored in this way — though the dubbing had surprisingly little to do with his science.

By then Newton had long since published the Principia, settled in London, and become Master of the Mint. The knighthood was largely a political maneuver tied to a coming election, orchestrated by his patron Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax. Two other men were dubbed alongside him that day.

The honor recognized the man more than the mathematics — but the title “Sir Isaac Newton” stuck for all the right reasons.

Newton would serve as president of the Royal Society until his death in 1727, by which point his laws of motion and gravitation had reshaped how the world understood itself.