Newton’s Principia
Open the interactive lesson
Decisions, questions and your own progress, in the app
Isaac Newton, portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1689 · Public domain · Source page
The story
Isaac Newton published Principia Mathematica, setting out three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.
What happened next
For the first time, one set of rules explained both a falling apple and the orbit of the Moon. It was the foundation of physics for more than 200 years.
Remember
- The astronomer Edmond Halley paid to publish it
- Newton also built a telescope that uses a mirror instead of lenses
- Einstein’s relativity refined his laws in the 1900s
Review question
What did Newton’s law of gravitation explain?
Answer: Both falling objects and planetary orbits. The same force that pulls an apple down keeps the Moon in orbit.
Image credits
- Isaac Newton, portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1689 · Public domain · Source page
.jpg){kind=link}