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Feb 14, 1564
Galileo Galilei
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Dec 27, 1571
Johannes Kepler
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Galileo Galilei
It is likely that Galileo himself did not drop two objects of very different weight from the tower to prove that (contrary to popular expectations) they would hit the ground at the same time. However, it is certain that Galileo understood the principle involved, and probably did similar experiments. The realization that, as we would say in modern terms, the acceleration due to gravity is independent of the weight of an object was important to the formulation of a theory of gravitation by Newton. -
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Johannes Kepler
Kepler: Johannes Kepler discoveries and biographyKepler was assigned the task by Tycho Brahe to analyze the observations that Tycho had made of Mars. Of all the planets, the predicted position of Mars had the largest errors and therefore posed the greatest problem. Tycho's data were the best available before the invention of the telescope and the accuracy was good enough for Kepler to show that Mars' orbit would precisely fit an ellipse. Kepler can truly be called the founder of celestial mechanics. -
Isaac Newton
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Isaac Newton
Created the three laws of motion and created a theory for gravity which we use today. Its said that he watched an apple fall from a tree and began to think, the apple is acceleating, since itsvelocity changes from zero as it is hanging on the tree and moves toward the ground. Thus by the second law there must be a force that acts on it. GRAVITY!!!!!! -
Henry Cavendish
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Henry Cavendish
Cavendish's most celebrated investigation was that on density of the Earth. This was the first experiment to measure the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory, and the first to yield acurate values for the gravitational constant. -
Albert Einstein
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Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein's contribution was to develop the theory of (special) relativity. This theory predicts that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. It also presented a unified picture of the 3 space and 1 time dimensions by interpreting acceleration as a 4-dimensional rotation in space-time. This means that an increase in an objects progression through space means a decrease in an objects progression through time Also the mass of the object would increase hence the famous formulaE=mc2
