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How did Galileo’s experiments with falling objects influence gravitational theory?

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gravitational lens — gravity A galactic cluster, about five billion light-years away, produces a tremendous gravitational field that “bends” light around it. This lens produces multiple copies of a blue galaxy about twice as distant. Four images are visible in a circle surrounding the lens; a fifth is visible near the center of the picture, which was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Galileo Galilei’s experiments with falling objects were foundational to the development of gravitational theory because they dismantled long-held Aristotelian misconceptions and established the empirical basis for classical mechanics.12

By timing the descent of objects, Galileo discovered that falling bodies undergo constant acceleration and that the distance traveled is proportional to the square of the elapsed time. Crucially, he demonstrated that all bodies fall with the same acceleration regardless of their composition or weight, a concept now known as the weak principle of equivalence.134

These findings directly challenged the Aristotelian view that speed of fall was proportional to weight. Furthermore, by analyzing projectile motion and the behavior of objects on inclined planes, Galileo deduced that bodies in motion tend to remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force. This work on kinematics and the nature of motion provided the essential groundwork for Isaac Newton, whose later synthesis of universal gravitation successfully accounted for Galileo’s observations of falling bodies and projectile trajectories.321