In 1687, when Isaac Newton penned his renowned laws of motion onto parchment, he likely could not have foreseen that they would still be a topic of discussion three hundred years later.

Newton, writing in Latin, articulated three fundamental principles that govern the movement of objects within our Universe, concepts that have been translated, analyzed, and debated extensively over the years.

However, a philosopher specializing in language and mathematics suggests that we may have misinterpreted Newton’s original phrasing of his first law of motion for decades.

Daniel Hoek, a philosopher from Virginia Tech, aimed to “set the record straight” after identifying what he considers a “clumsy mistranslation” in the first English version of Newton’s Latin Principia published in 1729.

This English translation laid the groundwork for numerous interpretations of Newton’s first law of inertia, which states that an object will either maintain its position or continue moving in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

While this interpretation suffices on the surface, it fails to account for the reality that external forces are always at play—an aspect that Newton would have certainly considered in his formulation.

Upon reviewing historical writings, Hoek recognized that this prevalent interpretation contained an oversight that remained unnoticed until 1999, when two academics highlighted the translation of a specific Latin term: quatenus, which translates to “insofar” rather than “unless.”

To Hoek, this subtle distinction is pivotal. Instead of merely describing how an object maintains its momentum when unaffected by forces, he argues that this revised interpretation implies that all changes in an object’s momentum—every nudge, dip, and shift—are the result of external forces.

“Restoring that single overlooked word [insofar] was essential to return one of physics’ cornerstone principles to its rightful clarity,” Hoek stated in a blog post illustrating his discoveries, which were later published in a 2022 research publication.

Despite this significant revise, the correction has yet to gain widespread acceptance. It may continue to face challenges against the backdrop of centuries of established narratives.

“Some find my interpretation too radical and unconventional to accept,” Hoek said. “Others see it as evidently correct, hardly worthy of argument.”

The general public might consider it to be a matter of semantics. Hoek acknowledges that this reinterpretation won’t alter the fundamentals of physics. However, a closer examination of Newton’s original writings sheds light on his thought process during that era.

“Extensive writing has explored the essence of the law of inertia,” Hoek elaborated, remembering how puzzled he was as a student regarding Newton’s intentions.

If we adhere to the traditional translation—stating that objects travel in straight lines until acted upon by an external force—it raises an interesting question: Why would Newton formulate a law about bodies devoid of outside influences when such a scenario does not exist in our Universe, where gravity and friction are omnipresent?

Hoek emphasizes that the primary intent of Newton’s first law is to demonstrate the necessity of recognizing force, as George Smith, a philosophy expert at Tufts University, noted in an interview with Scientific American.

Moreover, Newton provided three clear examples to elucidate his first law of motion. The most noteworthy, according to Hoek, involves a spinning top, which slows down in a tightening spiral due to air friction.

“By including this illustration,” Hoek writes, “Newton clearly demonstrates how his First Law applies to accelerative bodies exposed to forces, meaning it pertains to entities in the actual world.”

According to Hoek, this updated interpretation underscores one of Newton’s revolutionary concepts: that celestial bodies, like planets and stars, adhere to the same physical laws governing terrestrial objects.

“Every variation in velocity and every directional change,” Hoek observes—ranging from atomic particles to massive galaxies—”is regulated by Newton’s First Law.”

This insight reconnects us with the vastness of the cosmos.

Hoek’s findings have been documented in the Philosophy of Science.

A previous version of this article was published in September 2023.

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