Physics of causality and continuum: Questioning nature

Abstract

This article commemorates three distinct periods in the growing understanding of physics of motion during the Renaissance (referring to advancement of art) period, the age of enlightenment (scientific renaissance: the Newtonian mechanics), and the adoption of field concept, embodied in the theory of relativity. Emphasis is put on Newton's immense and fundamental contributions and those of his immediate and subsequent contemporaries, leading to Lagrangian dynamics, which is the cornerstone of many contributions to this journal. In particular, a generic geometric interaction potential is introduced within a closed field, which conforms to Newton's law of universal gravitation and extends to the scale of microcosm, thus embedding gravity with other forces of nature. The implications of these extensions to the Newtonian potential are discussed.