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Concept
Delft tower experiment
Summary
In 1586, scientists Simon Stevin and Jan Cornets de Groot conducted an early scientific experiment on the effects of gravity. The experiment, which established that objects of identical size and different mass fall at the same speed, was conducted by dropping lead balls from the Nieuwe Kerk in the Dutch city of Delft. The experiment is considered a foundational moment in the history of statics, which Stevin's work helped to codify.
In the late 16th century, increasing interest in physics resulted in a number of European scientists conducting experiments into the intricacies of the scientific field. Many of these experiments were—directly or indirectly—presenting a challenge to the laws of physics formulated by Aristotle, whose theory was then the dominant school of thought in Europe. While most contemporaneous scientific experimentation was undertaken by Italian scholars, by the 1580s new ideas on physics had proliferated to the rest of Europe.
One of the European scientists to embrace the new view of physics was Simon Stevin, a Flemish engineer and mathematician. Stevin was employed as a military adviser for the court of William the Silent, and as such resided in the city of Delft while William's government occupied the city; one of Stevin's main benefactors was Maurice, Prince of Orange, whose patronage allowed Stevin to further his scientific interests. While Stevin's primary concern at court was the design of defensive fortifications, he also took interest in fluid dynamics, designing a series of improvements for Delft's windmills. To gain permission to tinker with Delft's mills, Stevin employed the services of Jan Cornets de Groot, a local lawyer and future father of legal scholar Hugo de Groot. The elder De Groot and Stevin became friends, with the former eventually investing in several new mills built using Stevin's design.
In 1586 Stevin and De Groot collaborated to perform an experiment intended to challenge Aristotle's theory that objects fall at a speed directly proportional to their mass.
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