  Liquid drops start spreading directly after brought into contact with a
partial wetting substrate. Although this phenomenon involves a three-phase
contact line, the spreading motion is very fast. We study the initial spreading
dynamics of low-viscosity drops, using two complementary methods: Molecular
Dynamics simulations and high-speed imaging. We access previously unexplored
length- and time-scales, and provide a detailed picture on how the initial
contact between the liquid drop and the solid is established. Both methods
unambiguously point towards a spreading regime that is independent of
wettability, with the contact radius growing as the square root of time.
