Introduction

Abstract

In this book we undertake to explain the 17th century transition from early modern conceptualizations of motion to the theory of motion of classical mechanics We present this transition not in an extensive narration of events but in the detailed examination of key texts dealing with two central topics: the free fall of bodies and the composition of motions and forces. The choice of these two topics is not arbitrary, for the theorems developed to account for them were the cornerstones of all studies of motion of the time, whether they already formed part of classical mechanics or still preceded its establishment.