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Newton's success in understanding gravity, when coupled to the Copernican model of the solar system, led to a revolution in mankind's understanding of the universe and our confidence in being able to explain its mysteries. By carefully applying the ideas of bodies in orbit around one another, he not only explained the laws of planetary motion as discovered by Kepler, but correctly explained more down-to-earth phenomena such as the tides.
We will look more closely at orbits and tides in later sections, but for now its important to list some of what was known at the time of Newton and follow his thinking in working out the secrets of gravity.