ABSTRACT
For as long as man has been building machines, there have been those who viewed the universe as one.
Mechanics deals with the motions of objects and the forces that cause these motions. Galileo and Descartes both believed mechanics could reveal the nature of everything-be it a ower, a river, or a person. eir mechanistic viewpoint le little room for spontaneity, randomness, or purpose. e universe, in their minds, was like one big clock. Later on, Isaac Newton built on the ideas of these two thinkers by developing a completely mathematical theory for the motion of the universe. Newton’s 1687 scientic treatise, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, gave us the famous three laws of motion and the foundation for classical mechanics. e importance of Newton’s work and its impact on the world since its publication cannot be overstated-because he was onto something: the universe is very much a mechanical thing.
