Why didn't Newton invent Group Theory?

On August 5th, 1802 in a small town called Stavanger in Norway, what would soon to be, one of mathematics most brilliant minds was born. Neils Henrik Abel is considered the 'godfather' of Group Theory, and as a matter of fact, Newton didn't invent Group Theory because he wasn't Abel.

Prior to becoming the giant he was, Abel entered the University of Christiana in 1821, where he truly engineered his own path in Independent Studies. Due to his father's death, his education was largely funded by Bernt Michael Holmboe, who recognized his mathematical talents well before he entered college. It is noted that Abel began from a young age, reading the works such as The Principia, which is the published works of Sir Isaac Newton, and the works of Leonard Euler and Joseph Lagrange. These mathematical giants catalyzed Abel to pursue his own research in mathematics where he began with functional equations and integrals which were the subject of his first publication.

Later on he would stumble onto discoveries, which at the time, peer reviewers were quick to pass off, however as we now realize today, are discoveries which are still used and foundational ideas that any modern day Calculus II or Complex Analysis class utilize.

Works Cited

“Abel, Niels Henrik (1802-1829) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography.” Scienceworld.wolfram.com, scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Abel.html.