The historical figure credited with developing the theory of gravity is Sir Isaac Newton. In the late 17th century, Newton formulated the universal law of gravitation, which proposed that every mass attracts every other mass in the universe with a force proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. His landmark work, "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1687), not only described gravity but also laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. Newton's contributions revolutionized scientific understanding and paved the way for further advances in physics and astronomy, establishing him as one of the pivotal figures in the Scientific Revolution.