Long‐buried dismantling of a centuries‐old myth: Newton’s Principia and inverse‐square orbits

The author’s 1982 report of the fallacy inherent in Newton’s treatment of inverse‐square orbits in the Principia was anticipated by Ferdinand Rosenberger in his 1895 book‐length study of Newton’s life and work [Isaac Newton und Seine Physikalischen Principien (Barth, Leipzig, 1895)]. A new alternative formulation of the case against the Principia treatment is offered as surpassing in effectiveness that of Rosenberger and the essentially equivalent 1982 formulation by the author. Also offered is exposure of a long‐enduring misrepresentation of a portion of the Principia that deals with inverse‐square orbits.