Pendulums In Newtonian Mechanics

Abstract

Pendulum experiments have always constituted an important subject in physics research and they still do so. Newton reinforced their importance by considering them crucial to an essential aspect of his gravitational theory, namely, its experimental foundation. It is interesting, therefore, to find out to what extent his thinking and that of his admirers was influenced by these experiments, to look rather closely at the Newtonianism of pendulum experiments.