Newton and Gravity: The Big Idea

A good case can be made for Isaac Newton being the finest mind humanity has yet produced. His theory of gravity gave his contemporaries their first sense of how the universe actually functions, and enabled later generations to walk on the moon. Today we know that gravity is what keeps our feet on the ground, but how many people know how Newton’s greatest discovery really works? Just a few of the big ideas featured in Newton and Gravity are: Newton’s discovery of calculus at age twenty-three; why one of the greatest human insights of all time – gravity – was in fact a guess; why it took Newton twenty years to reveal to the world the secrets of gravity and planetary motion. Newton and Gravity also offers a vivid glimpse into the extraordinary and sometimes erratic personality of Isaac Newton.