ABSTRACT

Although Galileo set down the principles of dynamics, and Kepler found mathematical laws describing planetary motion, neither saw any connection between dynamics and astronomy. Newton brought Kepler and Galileo together, marrying the new dynamics to the new astronomy. With the law of universal gravitation he revealed the bonds holding the universe together. In that same bold stroke, he synthesizedmathematical laws ruling the heavens with physical laws operating on earth. Two elegant laws governed the entire cosmos, from delicate movements of the smallest portable watch, to rising and falling tides, to earth’s conical precession, to all the planets in the heavens. In the same grand sweep, universal gravitation made wayward comets predictable. Apostle of reason, Newton figured God’s design in two brilliant lines of mathematics, elevating Him from clockmaker to master-engineer and mathematician.