Dynamics and Vis Viva: An Introduction
July 7th, 2010 • 7:51 PM

The incredible blunders made by the professional fool René Descartes on the laws of motion were an amusing inspiration for Leibniz's discovery of the true principle underlying physics: dynamics. Specifically, Leibniz demonstrated that understanding the power of motion is impossible if you are guided by your senses: only the mind can understand power.