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4 - Newton and the Law of Gravity

from Case Study I - The Origins of Newton’s Laws of Motion and of Gravity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2020

Malcolm S. Longair
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Newton codified the laws of motion and gravity, their primitive forms being enunciated in 1665-66. Using Kepler's laws, he discovered the inverse square law of gravity and went on to show that gravity is the same force which holds the planets in their orbits, as well as that which causes apples to fall to the ground. Newton was a brilliant experimentalist who invented the Newtonian, reflecting telescope which eliminated the aberrations of refracting telescopes such as those built by Galileo. Newton's researches culminated in the publication of his revolutionary Principia Mathematica of 1687. He devoted as much effort to chemical (or alchemical) analyses and to the interpretation of ancient texts and the scriptures. He was also the inventor of differential and integral calculus.

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Chapter
Information
Theoretical Concepts in Physics
An Alternative View of Theoretical Reasoning in Physics
, pp. 48 - 72
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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