If Newton didn't discover gravity, who was the another person discover it?

Answer 1

Efforts to understand gravity began in ancient times. Philosophers in ancient India made attempts to explain the phenomenon from the 8th century BCE. According to Kanada, founder of the Vaisheshika school, "Weight causes falling; it is imperceptible and known by inference."

In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that there was no effect without a cause, and therefore no motion without a force. He hypothesized that everything tried to move towards its proper place in the crystalline spheres of the heavens, and that physical bodies fell toward the center of the Earth in proportion to their weight.

Brahmagupta, in the Brahmasphuta Siddhanta (628 CE), responded to critics of the heliocentric system of Aryabhata (476-550 CE) stating that "all heavy things are attracted towards the center of the earth" and that "all heavy things fall down to the earth by a law of nature, for it is the nature of the earth to attract and to keep things, as it is the nature of water to flow, that of fire to burn, and that of wind to set in motion... The earth is the only low thing, and seeds always return to it, in whatever direction you may throw them away, and never rise upwards from the earth."

In the 9th century, Al-Kindi (later known as Alkindus in Latin) stated his law of terrestrial gravity: "All terrestrial objects are attracted towards the center of the Earth."

In 1121, Al-Khazini, in his treatise The Book of the Balance of Wisdom, was the first to propose the theory that the gravities of bodies vary depending on their distances from the centre of the Earth. This phenomenon was not proven until Newton's law of universal gravitation in the 18th century. Al-Biruni and Al-Khazini were also the first to clearly differentiate between force, mass, and weight. Al-Khazini also showed awareness of the weight of the air and of its decrease in density with altitude, and discovered that there was greater density of water when nearer to the Earth's centre.


The scientific revolution
Modern work on gravitational theory began with the work of Galileo Galilei in the late 16th century and early 17th century. In his famous (though probably apocryphal) experiment dropping balls at the Tower of Pisa, and later with careful measurements of balls rolling down inclines, Galileo showed that gravitation accelerates all objects at the same rate. This was a major departure from Aristotle's belief that heavier objects are accelerated faster. (Galileo correctly postulated air resistance as the reason that lighter objects are perceived to fall more slowly.) Galileo's work set the stage for the formulation of Newton's theory of gravity.

Answer 2

We still do NOT understand how gravity works. We understand how to calculate it under different conditions (for example, using Newtonian formulas for everyday situations, and Einstein's formulas for things that move very fast or have enormous mass... or both). However, these are just formulas that tell us how to calculate gravity, not why it works that way. The formulas are based on suppositions: Newton supposed that gravity was caused by mass, and that it acted instantaneously. Einstein supposed that gravity is the result of the "bending" of space by mass, and that acceleration due to gravity is a response of other masses (and light) to this bending. Newton's formulas work very well in everyday things, including calculating the force holding a satellite in orbit around Earth. It does NOT explain why the path of a light ray gets bent by passing close to a big mass. No one has an explanation for WHY gravity exists. The study of the Higgs Field, now that we MAY have found the Higgs boson, may bring us closer to the answer. Some eager scientists (and science journalists) are overly optimistic and are already talking about how the [possible] discovery of the Higgs boson solves all our problems. This is like saying that just because you have found a car, that you can now travel everywhere you want (before even checking if there is a motor under the hood).

Answer 3

Discover may not be the right word, rather explain and theorise its existence.

Speculation of its existence began with Aristotle suggesting that all object try to move back towards its natural position, the earth.

Scientific theory on gravity began with Galileo when he suggested objects with different masses will impact the earth at the same time because of constant acceleration due to some 'force'.

This was furthered by Newton who included this constant in his development of the inverse square law for gravity in his book the Principia.

Then came Einstein and his relativistic effects concerning gravity

Answer 4

who can say? no one can tell that... because Newton did... or at last, he is the one we belive that did that...
he was not the only scientist of the time.
they were many, like there are many today... and the gravity theory is not due only to Newton... (the apple episode appear to be a legend)

Also many theries were proposed at the same time, like today... his one was working better than others... and he is become famous...
one of the things he told is F=m*a
how remember that Galileo, some year before, proposed his F=m*v? of course that was wrong... but for many years people belive to that, before Newton found out something more precise...
and also, Newton was wrong... as Einstein discovered... science never stop to refine his systems!!!

Answer 5

He didn't discover it, he put some science on it. It was still working before he came along. I'm sure prehistoric man knew about gravity even though they wrote no equations about it.

Answer 6

The Indian philosopher, they attempt to explain it but unsuccessful.