FREE ESSAY ON NEWTON

NEWTON

Mediaeval understanding of "science" had mostly based Aristotle; Aristotle's ideas held
for thousands of years until the scientific revolution begin breaking them off. It is
Newton helped the transformation of natural philosophy into modern science. 
Newton established the science of mechanics and laid the groundwork for classical physics
with law of motion he discovered. These principles might seem obvious and simple to
today's physicists, but this was a new way of thinking in Newton's time. Instead of
seeing math, as no more than a device for calculation that had no essential connection to
reality, Newton found a simple, precise mathematical law from which the observed
measurements could be worked out in detail. He was able to rely on Kepler's and Galileo's
work to develop the inverse law of gravity and the law of motion. Kepler's laws of
planetary motion told us that the planets move in certain regular orbits related to their
distance from the sun. Newton took a step further, providing how the solar system can
keep the planets in their orbits. He applied these to Kepler's laws of orbital motion, in
1687 Principia, he formulated the law of universal gravitation: a force--gravity, affects
all objects. The strength of this force varies in according to the mass and distance
between the objects. 
The idea of an invisible force that control over matter without having direct physical
contact certainly change the aspect of the universe in natural philosophy. 
Structure of the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic universe was dying. A planet is now just a
physical place, a combination of physical particles obeying cold, objective laws of
motion. It is no longer an alive entity striving to fulfill a purpose. Although a very
different conceptual scheme than that of the Middle Ages, it is metaphysics nonetheless.
In this light, we find Newton, in spite of his professed positivism, actively
contributing to the metaphysical foundations of the science that bears his name and
speculating again and again on the ultimate why questions relating humankind, God, and
the universe.
Newton's cosmology provided people with a universe that was comfortable and reliable that
can be work and think. His laws could be shown to be true by reason and that the
scientific approach could explain the phenomenal world. He had viewed the universe in two
aspects: human beings lived in a world of rationality, self-ruled and morality, at the
same time, the material universe that they observed can be explained in terms of cause
and effect.
It is true that Newton, unlike many before, strongly emphasized the importance of just
observing the world and finding the correct mathematical laws to relate our observations,
avoiding speculations about what invisible realities might be causing these observations.
But this is easy to do, if you already believe that the universe is a perfect machine
whose surface features follow a precise mathematical plan.
The notions of an absolute space and time, of a mechanical universe of atomic particles
in motion, of a preestablished parallelism between the minds of humans and the
mathematical laws of the material universe, of a valid, but de-emphasized, mental realm
for the secondary qualities of human nature -- these were the basic and generally
accepted elements of a new world view.
God is not portrayed as some silly separate humanlike fatherly figure that sits on a gold
throne in some heavenly dimension. God is a mystical, but rational, force that is in and
is the universe itself.
The completion of the Copernican revolution with Newton's theory of universal gravitation
not only made possible for other splendid discoveries, but also created a transformation
gateway from the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology to modern cosmology based on Einstein's
theory of relativity.
The impact of Newton's discoveries continues through out the 20th century. Newtonian
theory was important in the development of our understanding of electricity and
magnetism, and in the discoveries of electrodynamics and optics by Faraday and Maxwell.
His law of motion guided science for centuries, until Einstein demonstrated special
relativity, which Newton hadn't considered. 
Newton supplied the basic principles on which of the science has been built and brought
modern science into existence. In some way, he taught us to apply reason and the
scientific method to the manner like the physical universe operates.
Galileo's discoveries about the planets, moons, and stars began a revolution in
scientific thought, but they left many questions unanswered.