Editing Timeline of black hole physics (section)

==Pre-20th century==
* 1640&nbsp;— [[Ismaël Bullialdus]] suggests an [[inverse-square law|inverse-square]] gravitational force law
* 1676&nbsp;— [[Ole Rømer]] demonstrates that [[Rømer's determination of the speed of light|light has a finite speed]]<ref>P. 328 of {{Cite journal| issn = 0021-1753| volume = 31| issue = 2| pages = 327–379| last1 = Romer| first1 = M.| last2 = Cohen| first2 = I Bernard| title = Roemer and the First Determination of the Velocity of Light (1676)| journal = Isis| accessdate = 2023-03-24| date = 1940| doi = 10.1086/347594| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/225757| jstor = 225757| hdl = 2027/uc1.b4375710| s2cid = 145428377| hdl-access = free}}</ref>
* 1684&nbsp;— [[Isaac Newton]] writes down his inverse-square [[Gravity|law of universal gravitation]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=More |first=Louis Trenchard |url=https://archive.org/details/isaacnewtonbiogr0000loui/page/327 |title=Isaac Newton: A Biography |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1934 |page=327}}</ref>
* 1758&nbsp;— [[Rudjer Josip Boscovich]] develops his theory of forces, where [[gravity]] can be repulsive on small distances. This implied that strange classical bodies that would not allow other bodies to reach their surfaces, such as what we know call <em>[[white hole|white holes]]</em>, could exist.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cohesion: A Scientific History of Intermolecular Forces|author=Rowlinson, J.S.|date=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139435888|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Apyi_FXKnSkC}}</ref>
* 1784&nbsp;— [[John Michell]] discusses classical bodies which have [[escape velocity|escape velocities]] greater than the [[speed of light]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Platts-Mills |first=Ben |date=2 July 2024 |title=The forgotten priest who predicted black holes – in 1783 |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240626-the-priest-who-predicted-black-holes-in-1783 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>
* 1795&nbsp;— [[Pierre-Simon Laplace|Pierre Laplace]] discusses classical bodies which have escape velocities greater than the speed of light<ref>Laplace, P.-S. (1799). ''Allgemeine geographische Ephemeriden herausgegeben von [[Franz Xaver von Zach|F. von Zach]]''. IV. Band, I. Stück, I. Abhandlung, Weimar; translation in English: {{cite book |last1=Hawking |first1=Stephen W. |last2=Ellis |first2=George F.R. |title=The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time  |year=1973 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-09906-6 |pages=365ff|title-link=The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time }}</ref><ref>Colin Montgomery, Wayne Orchiston and Ian Whittingham, [http://www.narit.or.th/en/files/2009JAHHvol12/2009JAHH...12...90M.pdf "Michell, Laplace and the origin of the Black Hole Concept"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502005017/http://www.narit.or.th/en/files/2009JAHHvol12/2009JAHH...12...90M.pdf |date=2 May 2014 }}, ''Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage'', '''12'''(2), 90–96 (2009).</ref>
* 1798&nbsp;— [[Henry Cavendish]] measures the [[gravitational constant]] ''G''{{sfn|Poynting|1911|p=385}}<ref>'The aim [of experiments like Cavendish's] may be regarded either as the determination of the mass of the Earth,...conveniently expressed...as its "mean density", or as the determination of the "gravitation constant", G'. Cavendish's experiment is generally described today as a measurement of ''G''.' (Clotfelter 1987 p. 210).</ref>
* 1876&nbsp;— [[William Kingdon Clifford]] suggests that the motion of matter may be due to changes in the geometry of space