The Grip of Gravity: The quest to understand the laws of motion and
gravitation by Prabhakar Gondhalekar, Cambridge University Press, £18.95,
ISBN 0521803160
NOBODY understands gravity. It’s more than a bit ironic. After all, Isaac
Newton discovered the universal law of gravitation more than 300 years ago. With
it, he predicted the motion of planets and cannon balls, a feat that hammered
home the stupendous potential of science like no other. But all Newton really
did was describe the behaviour of gravity, as did Einstein, though admittedly in
a much more sophisticated way. To this day, nobody has figured out…
