Final answer:
Galileo Galilei's insight that rest and motion are equally natural states led to the concept of inertia, which was formalized by Isaac Newton as his first law of motion. Newton expanded on this and other work to develop his three laws of motion and discover universal gravitation, marking a significant shift from Renaissance to modern scientific understanding.
Step-by-step explanation:
Difference Between Galileo and Newton's Views on Motion
The conceptualization of motion underwent major changes during the scientific revolution, thanks to key figures such as Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. Galileo challenged the then-prevailing Aristotelian view by demonstrating that motion is as natural as rest, dispelling the notion that bodies have a natural tendency to come to rest. He realized that a force is required to change the state of motion of an object, not to maintain it. This pivotal insight contributed to what we now recognize as Newton's first law of motion, which states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.
Newton, building upon Galileo's concept of inertia and the work of his scientific predecessors, formulated the three laws of motion that became the foundation for classical mechanics.
His first law, often called the law of inertia, was a formalization of Galileo's ideas. Newton's contributions extended beyond the formulation of the laws of motion, as he also discovered the law of universal gravitation, invented calculus, and made significant contributions to optics. Newton's synthesis of previous scientific knowledge and his own original work marked the transition into the Modern era of science.