human
Who discovered the law of gravity?
gpt
Sir Isaac Newton is credited with discovering the law of gravitation. According to his own account, this was due in part to watching the fall of an apple from a tree.
human
Thank you for that! Can you tell me what year he was credited with that discovery? Is there any “drama” around that discovery? Who came up up with the law of gravity (the equation for it), and when? Thank you!
gpt
Sir Isaac Newton first formulated the law of gravity in 1687, when he published his work "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). In this groundbreaking work, he presented his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. The law of gravity is often represented by the equation `F=G*(m1*m2)/r^2`, where `F` is the gravitational force, `G` is the gravitational constant, `m1` and `m2` are the masses of the two objects, and `r` is the distance between their centers.

There is some "drama" surrounding the discovery of the law of gravity, as it is often debated whether Newton was the sole discoverer or if he had built upon the work of others. The mathematician and astronomer Robert Hooke is known to have corresponded with Newton, and some historians believe that Hooke's ideas about gravity influenced Newton's work. There is also a rivalry between Newton and the German mathematician and astronomer Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as they both independently developed the mathematical framework of calculus around the same time. However, the general consensus is that Newton was the first to develop the law of gravity in its complete mathematical form, and he is primarily credited with the discovery.