Kepler's laws of planetary motion explaining how the planets' speeds varied, and using elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits with epicycles. Isaac Newton showed in 1687 that relationships like Kepler's would apply in the Solar System to a good approximation, as a consequence of his own laws of motion and law of universal gravitation. Kepler's laws improved the model of Copernicus. If the eccentricities of the planetary orbits are taken as zero, then Kepler basically agreed with Copernicus: The eccentricities of the orbits of those planets known to Copernicus and Kepler are small, so the foregoing rules give fair approximations of planetary motion, but Kepler's
Three Roads to Quantum Gravity Three Roads to Quantum Gravity Three Roads to Quantum Gravity: A New Understanding of Space, Time and the Universe is the second non-fiction book by American theoretical physicist Lee Smolin. The book was initially published on May 30, 2001 by Basic Books as a part of "Science Masters" series. Smolin discusses three potential approaches by which a unified theory of quantum gravity, arguably the foremost issue in theoretical physics, may be realized. Approaches discussed include string theory, M-theory, and Smolin's preferred approach, loop quantum gravity. Smolin suggests that these approaches may be approximations of a single, underlying theory. —"The Guardian"