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Re: Galileo's gravity



Jeff Braun (braun@charm.evansville.edu) writes:

I was under the impression that it was Newton who first conceived of
the earth's gravity extending to the Moon and beyond. Galileo still
had some Aristotelian cobwebs in his cosmology in that he believed
the "natural state" of heavenly objects was uniform circular motion.
Does anyone know if Galileo really preempted Newton? Thanks.

Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on ol' Galileo. If I remember from my
reading of
the biography of Newton ("Never at Rest"), even Newton HIMSELF was confused by
uniform circular motion; as I recall, up until a few months before he finished
the Principia he was still trying to figure out how to "cancel" the forces on
an orbiting planet so it would be in eauilibrium ...

Regards, PRB

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Patrick R. Briggs __ __ __

I agree. There is an article in Sci Am sometime in the Spring of 81 by
I.B. Cohen on Newton and the Law of Universal Gravitation. It also appears
as an appendix in a revised version of his Birth of a New Physics. It
sheds lots of light on apparently when Newton sorted out some of the vital
issues.

BTW, I've seen recently a number of books in which in passing physics
concepts are discussed while making points. The understanding displayed is
yet another example of our effect on the majority we teach. ...but, that's
another debate.
;^)

Dewey

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/SN318 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad@varney.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938

"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe." --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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