Newton's Three Laws

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) compiled three laws of motion and published his thinking in Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 while he was teaching at Cambridge University in England. Newton used the three laws to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems. His thinking is responsible for developments in the field of classical mechanics, which is the study of physical laws describing the motion of bodies in a system. Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler also participated in the early development of classical mechanics.

Schooled in mathematics, natural philosophy, physics, astronomy and theology, Newton is considered to be one of the most influential individuals of all time and a founder of physical science as we know it today. His thinking dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. We remember him primarily for his description of the principle of gravitation and the three laws of motion. He showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. By demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, he removed the last doubts about the sun’s being the center of the solar system and advanced the thinking of the Scientific Revolution.

From Threes, Chapter 3, "Threes in Science"

Thomas Jefferson’s Big Three

As cultures evolved, thinkers found answers to perplexing problems and concepts in groupings of three ideas or principles, first in science, then in social systems.  The concept of gravity remained a challenge until philosopher, astronomer and physicist Isaac Newton declared in the late 1600s there were three laws of motion.  More than 300 years later there are still three laws of motion.  No one has uncovered a fourth. 

Attorney, statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon wrote about inductive reasoning in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.  He formalized a method for investigating the natural world 400 years ago.  The method that’s still used today begins with the collection of data from which comes the formation of a hypothesis to explain the data.  Finally, the third step is the testing of the hypothesis, which if it holds up under scrutiny can become a theory.  He “argued that although philosophy at the time used the deductive syllogism to interpret nature, the philosopher should instead proceed through inductive reasoning from fact to axiom to law.”  Induction, deduction and analogy are considered to be the three forms of classical reasoning.       

Former U.S. president, statesman, inventor, attorney and author Thomas Jefferson, borrowing from British philosopher and physician John Locke, who followed in the empiricist tradition of Francis Bacon, declared “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as those “unalienable rights” in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.  Jefferson drafted the Declaration at age 33.  He was the third U.S. president.  His writing inspired French citizens to seek their own independence using the rallying cry of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.”  Jefferson called John Locke one of his three heroes.  The other two were Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton.    

from Threes, Chapter 1, “The Wonder of Threes”

Also included in my new Kindle mini-e-book, Threes in Government and Politics, available now from Amazon.