: From Newton to Einstein: Changing Conceptions of the Universe by Harrow Benjamin - Relativity (Physics); Ether (Space); Gravitation; Einstein Albert 1879-1955; Newton Isaac Sir 1642-1727

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Time, Space and Gravitation, by Prof. Einstein 88 Einstein's Law of Gravitation, by Prof. J. S. Ames 93 The Deflection of light by Gravitation and the Einstein Theory of Relativity, by Sir Frank Dyson, Prof. A. S. Eddington and Sir J. J. Thomson 112

NEWTON

"Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed."--Lagrange, one of the greatest of French mathematicians.

"The efforts of the great philosopher were always superhuman; the questions which he did not solve were incapable of solution in his time."--Arago, famous French astronomer.

EINSTEIN

"This is the most important result obtained in connection with the theory of gravitation since Newton's day. Einstein's reasoning is the result of one of the highest achievements of human thought."--Sir J. J. Thomson, president of the British Royal Society and professor of physics at the University of Cambridge.

"It surpasses in boldness everything previously suggested in speculative natural philosophy and even in the philosophical theories of knowledge. The revolution introduced into the physical conceptions of the world is only to be compared in extent and depth with that brought about by the introduction of the Copernican system of the universe."--Prof. Max Planck, professor of physics at the University of Berlin and winner of the Nobel Prize.

NEWTON

In speaking of Newton we are tempted to paraphrase a line from the Scriptures: Before Newton the Solar System was without form, and void; then Newton came and there was light. To have discovered a law not only applicable to matter on this earth, but to the planets and sun and stars beyond, is a triumph which places Newton among the super-men.

What Newton's law of gravitation must have meant to the people of his day can be pictured only if we conceive what the effect upon us would be if someone--say Marconi--were actually to succeed in getting into touch with beings on another planet. Newton's law increased confidence in the universality of earthly laws; and it strengthened belief in the cosmos as a law-abiding mechanism.

Newton's Law. The attraction between any two bodies is proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates them. This is the concentrated form of Newton's law. If we apply this law to two such bodies as the sun and the earth, we can state that the sun attracts the earth, and the earth, the sun. Furthermore, this attractive power will depend upon the distance between these two bodies. Newton showed that if the distance between the sun and the earth were doubled the attractive power would be reduced not to one-half, but to one-fourth; if trebled, the attractive power would be reduced to one-ninth. If, on the other hand, the distance were halved, the attractive power would be not merely twice, but four times as great. And what is true of the sun and the earth is true of every body in the firmament, and, as Professor Rutherford has recently shown, even of the bodies which make up the solar system of the almost infinitesimal atom.

This mysterious attractive power that one body possesses for another is called "gravitation," and the law which regulates the motion of bodies when under the spell of gravitation is the law of gravitation. This law we owe to Newton's genius.

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