Who was the creator of principle of inertia

Aikon

Hi all,

It is really a history question.
I read that Galileu developed the concept of inertia, but today I knew it from Newton's 1st law. So my question is: Both of them arrived at the idea independently? Was Newton aware about Galileu's work and used the law because it is the basis for his 2nd law F=ma?

Thank you,

mfb

Every human, independent of the precise definition of that word in terms of our ancestors, discovers this concept before he/she learns a language.
Galileo and Newton just made them more accessible to a quantitative analysis.

mathman

Quote by mfb

Every human, independent of the precise definition of that word in terms of our ancestors, discovers this concept before he/she learns a language.
Galileo and Newton just made them more accessible to a quantitative analysis.

Not quite true. Aristotle thought that things would slow down (he didn't consider the role of friction). Galileo preceded Newton.

mfb

Aristotle thought that things would slow down (he didn't consider the role of friction).

Conservation of momentum is a different thing. I think you need a concept of inertia to propose a violation of momentum conservation.

Philip Wood

Galileo's notion of inertia seems to have been that bodies in circular motion keep going at constant speed. Descartes seems to have been the first to state that a body maintains its velocity (i.e. speed and direction) unless acted upon by an external force. It's stated, for example, in his 'Meditations' of 1642 (the year Newton was born).

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Aikon	Who was the creator of principle of inertia Tweet Hi all, It is really a history question. I read that Galileu developed the concept of inertia, but today I knew it from Newton's 1st law. So my question is: Both of them arrived at the idea independently? Was Newton aware about Galileu's work and used the law because it is the basis for his 2nd law F=ma? Thank you,

mfb Mentor	Every human, independent of the precise definition of that word in terms of our ancestors, discovers this concept before he/she learns a language. Galileo and Newton just made them more accessible to a quantitative analysis.

Philip Wood	Galileo's notion of inertia seems to have been that bodies in circular motion keep going at constant speed. Descartes seems to have been the first to state that a body maintains its velocity (i.e. speed and direction) unless acted upon by an external force. It's stated, for example, in his 'Meditations' of 1642 (the year Newton was born).