“The same thing is to be understood of all bodies, revolved in any orbits. They all endeavour to recede from the centres of their orbits, and were it not for the opposition of a contrary force which restrains them to and detains them in their orbits, which I therefore call Centripetal, would fly off in right lines with a uniform motion.”

English mathematician and physicist

Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist and natural philosopher of the 17th and 18th centuries. He is best known for shaping classical mechanics and for his central role in the Scientific Revolution. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, set out the laws that unified much of physics in one framework. He also made major contributions to optics and to the development of calculus, and his work helped define the scientific method and the rise of modern science.