Why do we Remember Issac Newton?

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Why do we Remember Issac Newton?
By: JC Church


People know Issac Newton as the man who developed the three Laws of Motion, but how much do we really know about the three Laws of Motion?  According to MotionGenesis.com, Newton was not the first to advocate Newton's second law. In 1669 (18 years before Newton), a member of the Royal Society named John Wallis wrote " For body at rest hath a repugnance to motion and body in motion hath a repugnance to rest, through Body as Body is indifferent to either, and will therefore continue as it is (whether at rest or in motion) till some positive cause alter its condition. And when such positive cause comes, its acts proportionally to its strength, the lesser the strength with which it moves, and the heavier the body to be moved, the slower will be the motion". This is pretty much the extended version of Newton's second law, which states that force equals mass times acceleration or F=ma. However, there were people even before Wallis who discovered Newton's laws.

Image result for thomas hobbesIn 1651 (36 years before Newton), Thomas Hobbes got his book Leviathan published. In this book it states that "that when a thing lies still, unless someone else stir it, it will lie still forever, is a truth that no man doubts. But [the proposition] that when a thing is in motion it will eternally be in motion unless somewhat else stay it, though the reason be the same (namely that nothing can change itself), is not so easily assented to". Hobbes pretty much stated in his book that every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it. Of course these were not the only two, there were many more who also recognized Newton's laws of gravity, light, and his discovery of calculus. But why don't we remember any of them?
Image result for John wallis

John Wallis, even though he was a mathematician who contributed substantially to the origins of calculus, was pushed out of the picture by Issac Newton and marked as the most influential English mathematician before Issac Newton.




The same can be said for Thomas Hobbes. He was praised for his work for modern political philosophy and his book, Leviathan, but was quickly forgotten after  Newton came along. We remember Issac Newton the most because he enforced and fought for his ideas the most which eventually led to the laws of force and motion being named after him. We also remember him most for his belief that the earth is not the center of the universe and that it revolves around the sun. There were many people who knew the things Newton did but just didn't make them that apparent.  You could conclude that you should enforce and be confident of what you believe in so that people will remember you for it.  Newton was much more forceful in trying to convince people that he was correct in his thinking.

Going into the future, I think that we will discover many more people who knew the things Newton did but did not make them the focus of their existence. Newton made sure that everyone was going to understand everything he thought. He was even imprisoned for betrayal against the church for believing that the earth is not the center of the universe. That is how far he went to stand by what he believed in. Until we find proof of other people that knew the same things as Newton and have a well-known scientist or person really defend them, we will always know Newton as the man who defined force, motion and gravity and as one of the greatest minds to ever live. 



Links to articles

http://www.motiongenesis.com/MGWebSite/MGQuirkyNews/ControversyWithNewton.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Wallis





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