When Isaac Newton participated in a discussion with Robert Hooke in 1679 regarding Hooke’s theory on planetary motion, it reignited his interest in a subject he had briefly investigated around 1664. Newton devised a swift demonstration, illustrating how forces vary inversely with the square of the distance at the two apsides of an ellipse. However, he kept this demonstration to himself. Despite Hooke’s urgings, Newton did not take any further steps until Edmond Halley visited in 1684. Halley asked about the path of planets, presuming an attraction to the Sun that is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Newton claimed it would be an ellipse and subsequently penned “De motu corporum in gyrum,” expanding groundbreaking concepts about dynamics, planetary motion, and Kepler’s laws.
Halley presented this work to the Royal Society, keen for its publication, but Newton engaged in a rigorous revision process. By 1686, he finished “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Principia), advancing the original ideas into new territories with inputs such as mass into dynamics, transitioning from kinematics. This process involved substantial revisions that introduced Newton’s laws of motion, which developed over years of honing his ideas.
Newton’s Principia also delved into universal gravity, motivated by insights from peers like Flamsteed. The culmination, however, necessitated collaborative support, particularly from Halley, who, despite financial difficulties after another society-funded publication, personally funded Principia’s printing. The release of Principia contested Cartesian philosophy and aligned more closely with Aristotelian deductive reasoning rather than the Baconian approach favored by the Royal Society during that period. The initial response to Newton’s work was mixed, laying the groundwork for its eventual influence, which would significantly affect the field of physics.