Symbolizes: Classical (Newtonian) Physics
Sir Isaac Newton
A Couple of Newton’s Equations:
Force = mass x acceleration
Universal Law of Gravity
The Celestial Orb Symbolizes CLASSICAL PHYSICS
This is the physics discovered, invented, described by Isaac Newton.
The “Laws” Newton formulated in the late 1600’s defined a physical foundation that is still being used today – even in the calculation of satellite orbits and moon landings.
Newton famously has Three Laws of Motion
A body in motion stays in motion
An object will accelerate with an acceleration proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass
Every action has an equal but opposite reaction
Newton also defined his Universal Law of Gravitation
The gravitational force between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two bodies.
In addition to Newton, Classical Physics is populated with such great names as
- Democritus (c. 470 – 380 B.C.)
- Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.)
- Aristarchus (310 – 230 B.C.)
- Ptolemy (c. 85 – 165)
- Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)
- Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601)
- Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)
- Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630)
- Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691)
- Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)
- Henry Cavendish (1731 – 1810)
- Charles Coulomb (1736 – 1806)
- Antoine Lavoisier (1743 – 1794)
- John Dalton (1766 – 1844)
- Thomas Young (1773 – 1829)
- Hans Oersted (1777 – 1851)
- Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 – 1855)
- Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867)
- James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879)
- Heinrich Hertz (1857 – 1894)
Granted, there are names in this list that are outside the generally accepted date range for the era of Classical Physics (1687, when Newton published Principia, to 1900, the beginning of quantum physics). These outsiders are included here because they are people who made significant discoveries that laid the foundations upon which the later scientists made their discoveries.
Actually, classical physics did not end in 1900. In the guise of Modern Physics, classical physics continues. One name in this continuing list of modern physicists you may have heard of is
Albert Einstein