Isaac Newton revolutionized contemporary science by theorizing a new scientific approach based on observation and experimentation. His studies lead to a new understanding of force and motion, as well as the concept of gravity.
Isaac Newton developed calculus, laws of motion of bodies, and laws of gravitation and optics. Much of what we’ll be learning about in this physics course is what is known as “Newtonian physics.”
Newton is responsible for the theory of gravity. According to him it was inspired by watching an apple fall from a tree.
Newton's three laws of motion relate the forces acting on a body to motion
- Every object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force.
- Force equals mass times acceleration.
- To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Then science began to develop quickly. Men such as Galvani, Coulomb, Volta, and our own Benjamin Franklin investigated the nature of electricity. Rumford, Carnot, and many others deepened our knowledge of heat and energy.
As we move into the late 1800’s we see different areas of science being integrated more and more. Mendeleyev was a chemist famous for organizing all the elements into the periodic table, but he was also a noted physicist. Maxwell realized that electricity and magnetism interact, and that light is a kind of electromagnetic wave.
