Mechanics and the solar system

The main historical problem in the history of science is: to explain what is going on with the night sky, in particular what the planets are doing. The resolution of this was the greatest achievement of the 17th century. The key figures were Copernicus, Galileo, Brahe, Kepler and most famously Isaac Newton. This interesting story, culminating with Kepler’s Laws and their explanation by Newton’s Laws of Motion and Law of Gravitation, ought to be studied in depth by all undergraduate students of mathematics