The Discovery of Dynamics

The Discovery of Dynamics is a highly original account of the development of notions about space, time, and motion from ancient times to the publication of Newton's Principia in 1687, with additional conceptual clarification from the 19th century.

The book covers ancient Greek astronomy, the Copernican revolution, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and the contributions of Galileo, Descartes, Huygens, and Newton.

Written by the world's leading expert on Mach's Principle, it explores the central philosophical question of whether motion is absolute or relative, and how this question has shaped the development of physics and remains relevant to modern quantum gravity research.