New ton's three laws of mo tion structure the exceptionally the foun da tion of phys ics and en gi

neer -

ing. They are the un der ly ing the o rems that our phys I cal sci ences are based upon, similarly as Eu
-

clid's ba sic the o rems structure the foun da tion of our mod ern ge om e attempt. For the cre ation
of these

laws, com bined with his dis cov ery of grav ity and his cre ation of cal cu lus, New ton is con -

sid ered the pre em I nent sci en tific keenness of the last thousand years.

How Could It be Dis cov ered?

How Could It be Dis cov ered?

Since the time Johannes Kep ler's 1609 dis cov ery that arrangement ets travel in el lip ti cal (not cir
cu -

lar) or bits around the sun, sci en tists had been fran ti cally take a stab at ing to math e mat I cally ex
plain

these or bits. Burglarize ert Hooke and John Halley both attempted. However, nei ther could make
the

science work.

Brought into the world in 1642 in Lincolnshire, Eng land, 60 miles from Cam span, Isaac New ton was
a

dif fi clique kid. His fa ther passed on 90 days be front Isaac's introduction to the world. Isaac never
loved his stepfa ther and was left to be raised by his fantastic standard ents. However, New ton felt
no af fec tion to ward
anybody—not his mom, not his stupendous standard ents, nor even his stepbrother and sister ter.
He of ten

danger ened to hit them and to torch the house. He was a dis ci pline prob lem in school.

Just one man, Wil liam Ayscough, rec og nized Isaac's bril liance and po ten tial and ar -

run for New ton to learn at Trin ity Col lege (some portion of Cam span Uni ver sity). Be ing poor

also, un ready to pay the huge tu I tion, New ton functioned as a ser vant to other stu marks to pay
for

food and lodging. New ton was al ways sol I tary and se cre tive. Oth ers said he was sullen and

factious.

In 1665 Cam span shut when the plague struck Lon wear. New ton re tired to his sister -

ter's coun attempt es tate. There he felt frus trated by the iso la tion and by an absence of math e
mat I cal

instruments to de recorder the chang ing powers and mo tions he needed to un der stand. He was
de ter -

mined to mas ter the powers that made things move (or not move).

New ton stud ied writ ings by Ga li leo and Ar is totle just as the more re penny works by

Kep ler and Halley. He gath ered the scat tered and of ten con tra dic conservative ob ser va tions
and the -
o ries de vel oped since the hour of the early Greeks. He stud ied and once again fined them, search
ing

31

for com mon realities and for er rors. New ton was amaz ingly acceptable at filter ing through this
moun -

tain of thoughts for the not many that held truth.

New ton was very little of an ex for each I menter. He contemplated prob lems, con pipe ing

mind ex per I ments as did Ein stein. New ton pondered things in tently for quite a while un -

until he shaped the a swers he really wanted. As would be natural for him, he "kept the sub ject con
stantly be -

front him and held up un until the main dawnings opened lit tle by lit tle into full light."

Solv ing the mys tery of the powers that cre ate mo tion rapidly be came an ob ses sion with

New ton. He fo cused his at ten tion on Ga li leo's laws of fall ing body ies and on Kep ler's laws

concerning the mo tion of plan ets. He of ten went with out rest or food, to the edge of phys I cal

breakdown.

New ton de vel oped his three laws of mo tion in mid 1666. They were the es sen tial

construct ing blocks for his cre ation of cal cu lus and his dis cov ery of grav ity. How ever, New ton

didn't bar lish these laws un until Halley persuaded him to compose Principia 20 years after the fact.
In 1684 Jean Picard master duced the primary ac cu rate fig ures for the size and mass of Earth.

This fi nally gave New ton the num bers he expected to demonstrate that his laws of mo tion com
bined

with his equa tion for grav ity cor rectly pre dicted the air conditioner tual or pieces of the
arrangement ets. Indeed, even af ter

com plet ing this numerical e mat I cal confirmation, New ton just bar lished Principia in 1687 be
cause

Halley asked and ca joled him to—generally be cause Rob ert Hooke asserted (erroneously) to have

de vel oped uni ver sal laws of mo tion him self. Principia be came one of the most re vered and

most utilized bar li ca tions throughout the entire existence of science.