The Watchmaker: my fav argument

[HappySkeptic]

The final nail was Newton's discovery of his laws of motion and his law of universal gravity.

Out of curiosity, since I'm reaching far beyond my comfort zone, what role does Einstein play in this battle? If Newton put the final nail, but Einstein is often described as somewhat replacing Newton, what does Einstein's theory do to these models? Relativity seems to make use of "frames of reference" and "observers," which at first glance is the main difference between the geocentric and heliocentric model.

Newton's laws of motion work in the limit of small speeds,  while Special Relativity must be used for high speeds.  Special Relativity also creates new physics, such as frame-of-reference transformations for length and time, and mass-energy equivalence (E=mc^2).

Newton's law of gravity works in the limit of small levels of gravity.  However, for higher gravitational forces, one must use General Relativity.  This solves the precession of Mercury.  General Relativity also creates new physics, such as gravity bending spacetime (and therefore bending light).

Newton's theories are much simpler and easier to use in the realm in which they work.  Relativity is a superset of Newton, and solves new problems.