Which scientist formulated the three laws of motion?

Isaac Newton formulated the three laws of motion, presenting them in his 1687 work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Together, the laws established a mathematical framework for understanding how forces affect moving bodies.

The first law describes inertia: an object remains at rest or in uniform motion unless acted on by a net external force. The second relates force, mass, and acceleration, commonly written as F = ma. The third states that interacting bodies exert equal and opposite forces on each other.

Newton’s laws were central to classical mechanics and helped explain terrestrial and celestial motion within one system. They remain highly accurate for everyday speeds and scales, although relativity is needed at speeds close to light and quantum mechanics is needed for microscopic phenomena. Newton also made major contributions to optics and calculus.