In 1682, Isaac Newton began work on the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy". This happens on a wave of interest in the Halley comet, which once again came to Earth. To explain her movement around the Sun, Edmund Halley turned to Professor of Cambridge University Isaac Newton.
After 2 years, Newton's treatise "The motion of bodies in orbit" was sent to Halley. Later in 1868, in the finalized and expanded version of this work, the laws of motion and gravitation were formulated. With their help, Newton explained the ellipticity of the orbits of the planets of the solar system and comets.
July 6, 1687 on Halley's money were published "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy." Their total number was 120 copies. They were sold for 4 years, which was a good result for the scientific works of that time.
Isaac Newton abandoned the qualitative description of natural phenomena, and focused on the quantitative calculation of the results of their actions.
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He also defined the basic concepts of mechanics, introduced physical quantities: mass, external force and momentum. Formulated three laws of mechanics and the law of universal gravitation.
With his help, based on Kepler's empirical laws, it was possible to explain the ellipticity of the planetary orbits and calculate the speed of the planets around the Sun.
During the life of the author this book was reprinted three times. And in each new edition Newton made significant additions and clarifications.
Despite the fact that Newton did not explain the nature of the forces of attraction, the successes of the celestial mechanics of the XVIII century, all Newton's laws were considered unshakable for more than two hundred years. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, with the advent of Einstein's works on the general theory of relativity, was discovered the nature of gravity and described the gravitational interactions of bodies moving with velocities close to the speed of light.