(I will not nitpick that Newtonian physics existed long before Newton. I will not nitpick that Newtonian physics existed long before Newton. I will not nitpick that Newtonian physics existed long before Newton. I will not nitpick that Newtonian physics existed long before Newton.)
Well, that's kinda what I was getting at, philosophically. Technically, the equations just are a way of describing the phenomena or principle. So in a way, Newtonian Physics are only the equations describing the principles. So sure, those principles existed before he described them in mathematical calculations. I dunno... I'm sitting in a long and boring conference call/training, and my mind is wandering off into the weeds... government contracting, my friends... my brains are leaking out my ears...
Philosophically, sure. But if you want to act on it, you have to know it, and that knowledge isn't eternal. My bicycle has 27 speeds and tires that run at 90psi. None of the physical laws that governed its construction came into being recently. But without the knowledge of metallurgy, chemistry, manufacturing science and materials technology that have been developed in the past 100 years it'd be a velocipede. I mean, carbon fiber spokes. Beat steel in many many ways, but utterly unheard of 40 years ago. Multiply by everything. However, hydrodynamic bearings? That's steam engine shit. Internal combustion has advanced much slower than semiconductors despite the fact that the laws of the universe have been knowable (but unknown) since its birth.