Isaac Newton is credited with discovering the law of universal gravitation in the late 17th century. His seminal work, "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica," published in 1687, outlines the principles of gravity, describing how objects with mass attract one another. Newton's formulation of the law demonstrated that the gravitational force depends on the masses of the objects and the distance between them. This groundbreaking discovery laid the foundation for classical mechanics and significantly advanced our understanding of the physical universe, influencing countless scientific fields and subsequent research on motion and celestial bodies.