NATS 1730 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Mental Substance, Edmond Halley, Robert Hooke
15 Feb 2017
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Over the next 15-20 years, newton published a work on the calculus, the ideas of which he was accused of stealing from leibniz, and some of his work on light, which robert. Newton, disgusted, retreated into his own studies, publishing nothing. One of newton"s few friends was the astronomer, edmund halley. In 1684, halley and architect christopher wren, speculated that the force that held the planets in their orbits must be inversely related to their distance from the sun. Halley thought newton might be able to settle the matter. Instead of asking newton what kind of force would hold the planets in their orbits, halley asked newton what curve would be produced by a force of attraction that diminished with the square of the distance. Halley asked for the proof, but newton could not find it, and promised to send it to him. Newton sent halley a nine page proof three months later.
