Physics and astronomy, from which all other sciences derive their foundation, are attempts to provide a rational explanation for the structure and workings of the cosmos. The creation of the earliest civilizations and of mankind's religious beliefs were profoundly influenced by the movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars across the sky. As our most ancient ancestors instinctively sought to fashion tools through which they gained mechanical advantage beyond the strength of their limbs, they also sought to understand the mechanisms and patterns of the natural world. From this quest for understanding evolved the science of physics. Although these ancient civilizations were not mathematically sophisticated by contemporary standards, their early attempts at physics set mankind on the road toward the quantification of nature.

In ancient Greece, in a natural world largely explained by the whim of gods, the earliest scientists and philosophers of record...