The law put forward by I. Newton in 1687 which states that any two bodies attract each other with a force that depends on the product of their masses divided by the square of the distance between them. Put mathematically, the gravitational force of attraction, F, between two masses m₁ and m₂, separated by distance r, is given by F = Gm₁ m₂/r², where G is a constant known as the gravitational constant. See also gravitation.