alleryStart learning →Who first gave the gravitational force an exact mathematical form?
AGalileo Galilei
BRobert Hooke
CSir Isaac Newton
DEdmund Halley
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. Sir Isaac Newton
1. Newton was the first to define the gravitational force precisely.
2. He then showed that one law could explain both falling bodies and astronomical motions.
3. Galileo had already argued the two had a common cause, but gave no exact form.
4. Hooke, Wren and Halley made progress too, yet none produced the mathematical law.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Uniform Circular Motion and Gravitation", section 6.5 Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation_
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