Which came first? · Counterintuitive
Which came first: Merck or Newton's Principia?
Merck came first, in 1668 (founded). Newton's Principia followed 19 years later, in 1687 (published).
- First1668
Merck
company · foundedMerck traces itself to 1668, when Friedrich Jacob Merck took over a pharmacy in Darmstadt, Germany.
- Second1687
Newton's Principia
book · publishedNewton's Principia, with his laws of motion and gravity, was published in 1687.
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All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games
Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.