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Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton's work on gravity and the laws of motion became the foundations of classical mechanics. His book Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, is considered to be one of the most influential book in the history of science.
Although Newton considered space and time to be absolute, the combination of Newton's mechanics and Galileo's concept of relativity "all motion is relative" led to what became known as Newtonian relativity.
Newtonian relativity differs from Einstein's relativity in that inertial frames are related by Galilean transformations, rather than Lorentz transformations. This means that all motion is symmetrical between frames of reference, and there is no contraction of physical distances, nor dilation of time.
Further information on Newtonian relativity may be found on the Wikipedia page Galilean invariance.
Further information on Newton's many contributions to physics, mathematics, astronomy, alchemy and theology may be found here.
