The famous physicist known for his law of gravitation is Sir Isaac Newton. He formulated the law of universal gravitation in the late 17th century, which states that every mass attracts another mass with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Newton's work laid the foundation for classical mechanics and significantly advanced our understanding of motion and celestial bodies. His influential work, "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," was published in 1687 and remains a seminal text in the field of physics.