Vaisheshika ideas of motion and Newton's laws
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The Vaisheshika school discussed motion, force and impetus (vega). Some writers say this anticipates Newton's three laws; historians see it as qualitative philosophy, not the laws themselves.
Indian claim not supported by evidencePhysics & chemistry
Indian claim
Kanada and Prashastapada stated Newton's laws of motion long before Newton.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- The Vaisheshika Sutras discuss motion (karma) and its causes, including impact and weight.
- Prashastapada (c. 6th century CE) describes vega, an impressed tendency that keeps a moving body moving, and sthitisthapaka, the elasticity that restores shape.
Commonly credited to
Newton's three laws of motion were first set out in the Principia (1687) as precise mathematical laws.
Evidence for the other claim
- These are qualitative descriptions without measurement or equations such as force equals mass times acceleration.
- Similar impetus ideas appear in John Philoponus (6th century) and Jean Buridan (14th century) in the West.
- The one-to-one matching of verses to Newton's three laws comes from modern popular writing, not from historians of science.
What historians and scientists say
The Vaisheshika school had a thoughtful physics of motion worth studying. Saying it contains Newton's laws reads modern science into the text.