Newton wrote that Galileo had discovered that the constant force of gravity produces a motion proportional to the square of the time. In fact, Galileo’s kinematic theorem does take that form when embedded in the matrix of Newton’s own dynamical concepts. But Galileo said nothing of the sort. His discussion of falling bodies rarely alludes to forces, much less to a uniform gravitational force that causes bodies to fall.2 By crediting to Galileo the answer to a question that Galileo’s paradigms did not permit to be asked, Newton’s account hides the effect of a small but revolutionary
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