Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727) continued
Suffered a mental breakdown in 1675.
In 1679 (responding to a letter from Hooke) suggested that particles, when released, would spiral toward the center of the earth. Hooke wrote back claiming the path would be an ellipse.
Hating to be publicly contradicted, Newton began to work out the mathematics of orbits.
Urged by Halley to publish his calculations and results, Newton released Principia in 1687. This became one of the most important and influential works on physics of all times