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Newton's Principia Mathematica

Science · Europe · United Kingdom

Newton showed that one mathematical law of gravitation governs falling apples and orbiting moons — with the calculus-like methods to prove it.

Why it matters

The dream of a mathematical universe that actually computes came true: nature became, in principle, predictable. Deterministic physics — and its eventual breakdown with quantum theory — starts here.

People

Isaac Newton

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Sources

  • Encyclopædia Britannica — Isaac Newton