Who is known for the law of gravity?

The law of gravity is primarily attributed to Isaac Newton, who formulated the law of universal gravitation in the late 17th century. Newton's groundbreaking work laid the foundation for classical mechanics, establishing that every mass attracts every other mass with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. This principle not only described the motion of objects on Earth but also explained celestial phenomena, such as the orbits of planets around the sun.

While other notable scientists, such as Albert Einstein and Galileo Galilei, made significant contributions to our understanding of gravity and motion, it was Newton who first articulated the laws governing gravitational attraction in a comprehensive manner. Einstein later expanded on Newton's ideas through his theory of general relativity, which addressed gravity as a curvature of spacetime, but the foundational concept of gravity itself originated with Newton's insights. Stephen Hawking, meanwhile, is known for his work in theoretical physics and cosmology rather than the formulation of gravitational laws.