Isaac Newton's apple tree

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Isaac Newton's apple tree
Newton's apple tree (34681046425).jpg
The tree in Woolsthorpe Manor
Species Flower of Kent, Malus domestica
Coordinates 52°48′32.7″N00°37′51″W / 52.809083°N 0.63083°W / 52.809083; -0.63083
Date seeded1666 (1666) (original)
1820;205 years ago (1820) (regrown)
Date felled1816; 149–150 years (original)
Custodian National Trust
Website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/woolsthorpe-manor

Isaac Newton's apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor [1] [2] represents the inspiration behind Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity. While the precise details of Newton's reminiscence (reported by several witnesses to whom Newton allegedly told the story) are impossible to verify, the significance of the event lies in its explanation of Newton's scientific thinking. The apple tree in question, a member of the Flower of Kent variety, is a direct descendant of the one that stood in Newton's family's garden in 1666. Despite being blown down by a storm in 1820, the tree regrew from its original roots. Its descendants and clones can be found in various locations worldwide.

Contents

Incident

Following an exchange of letters in the late 1660s with Robert Hooke, [3] Isaac Newton began grappling with the idea that terrestrial gravity extends to the Moon, in an inverse-square proportion (as Bulliadus, Huygens and Hooke had already conjectured). [4] However, it took him two decades to develop the full-fledged theory with a mathematical proof. [4] Newton showed that if the force decreased as the inverse square of the distance, one could indeed calculate the Moon's orbital period, and get good agreement.[ citation needed ] He conjectured that the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation"; [5]

Newton statue on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History Isaac Newton statue.jpg
Newton statue on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Newton himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. [6] [7] [8] The story is believed to have passed into popular knowledge after being related by Catherine Barton, Newton's niece, to Voltaire. [9] Voltaire then wrote in his Essay on Epic Poetry (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree." [10] [11] [12]

Some have argued that the apple story is a fiction and that he did not arrive at his theory of gravity at any single moment. [13] Acquaintances of Newton (such as William Stukeley) recorded Newton's version of the incident, though not the meritless version that the apple actually hit Newton's head. [14] [15] [16]

British science writers Mary and John Gribbin assert that Newton simply made it up, [13] because, in 1666, Newton's theory of the nature of gravity [17] would not have encompassed it. In their view, either the elderly Newton had forgotten that he had once posited it as an explanatory analogy or (more probably) because he would not admit that Robert Hooke had given him the concept of universal gravity in his [Hooke's] 1674 Gresham lecture, An Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth by Observations (published 1679), which explained that gravitation applied to "all celestial bodies". [18]

The tree

The story behind Newton's apple tree can be traced back to Newton's time at Woolsthorpe Manor, his family estate in Lincolnshire, England. [19] [1] [2] During his stay at the manor in 1665 or 1666, it is believed that Newton observed an apple falling from a tree and began pondering the forces that govern such motion. [20] Dendrochronology, done by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at the University of Oxford, confirms one of the trees in the orchard to be over 400 years old, having regrown from roots surviving from a tree which was blown over by a storm in 1816. [21] [1] [22]

Various other trees are claimed to be the apple tree which Newton describes. The King's School, Grantham, which Newton attended between 1655 and 1660, claims that the tree was purchased by the school, uprooted and transported to the headmaster's garden some years later. [23] The staff of the (now) National Trust-owned Woolsthorpe Manor dispute this claim. [1]

Cross section of apples from Isaac Newton's Tree, National Fruit Collection Cross section of Isaac Newton's Tree, National Fruit Collection (acc. 1948-729).jpg
Cross section of apples from Isaac Newton's Tree, National Fruit Collection

The apple tree is a culinary apple [24] of the Flower of Kent variety. [20] The apple tree still exists today at Woolsthorpe Manor, and it is attended by gardeners, secured with a fence, and cared for by National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. [21]

Significance

While there is debate regarding the veracity of the apple tree story, [13] it has become ingrained in popular culture. [20] [25]

A statue of Isaac Newton, looking at an apple at his feet, can be seen at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The tree was chosen as one of the 50 Great British Trees in 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. [26] Part of the tree was used in the state coach for Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee. [27]

I'll take it up and let it float around for a bit, which will confuse Isaac

Piers Sellers on his plan for 10cm sample during the mission,Economic Times [28] [29]

On 14 May 2010, British-born NASA astronaut Piers Sellers took a 10cm fragment of the Newton's apple tree into space as part of the celebrations for the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, of which Newton was a former president. The tree sample, engraved with Newton's name, was originally taken from the Royal Society's archives and entrusted to Piers Sellers for his 12-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station (ISS). [30] [31] [32] After the mission, both the tree sample and the picture was returned to the Royal Society and became part of a historical exhibition. [33]

Seeds of the tree were sent by the European Space Agency into space to the International Space Station on the 2014-15 Principia mission with astronaut Tim Peake. [26] [34] As part of the "Pips in Space" research, the seeds floated in microgravity for six months before returning to Earth in 2016 to be raised into young trees. [35] Winners of a competition to host one of the unique seedlings include the National Physical Laboratory, [36] Jodrell Bank Observatory, and the Eden Project. [35] In 2023, 10 saplings from the tree were auctioned to support the upkeep of Woolsthorpe Manor. [37]

See also

Notes

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 Keesing, R. G. (1 May 1998). "The history of Newton's apple tree". Contemporary Physics. 39 (5): 377–391. Bibcode:1998ConPh..39..377K. doi:10.1080/001075198181874. ISSN   0010-7514. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    2. 1 2 "Visitors gravitate to Newton's apple tree in Grantham". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    3. ↑ Koyré, Alexandre (1952). "An Unpublished Letter of Robert Hooke to Isaac Newton". Isis . 43 (4): 312–337. doi:10.1086/348155. ISSN   0021-1753. JSTOR   227384. PMID   13010921. S2CID   41626961. my supposition is that the attraction always is in duplicate proportion to the distance from the center reciprocall
    4. 1 2 Cohen, I. Bernard; Smith, George E., eds. (2002). The Cambridge Companion to Newton (PDF). p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2021.
    5. ↑ Brackenridge, J. Bruce (29 February 1996). The Key to Newton's Dynamics: The Kepler Problem and the Principia. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-91685-2. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
    6. ↑ White, Michael; Newton, Isaac (1997). Isaac Newton: the last sorcerer. London: Fourth Estate. p. 86. ISBN   978-1-85702-416-6.
    7. ↑ Numbers, Ronald L.; Kampourakis, Kostas (4 November 2015). Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science. Harvard University Press. pp. 46–52. ISBN   978-0-674-91547-3. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
    8. ↑ Staff, Times (27 June 2023). "Gravity of damage facing Newton's tree prompts action". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
    9. ↑ Malament, David B. (2002). Reading Natural Philosophy: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics. Open Court Publishing. ISBN   978-0-8126-9507-6. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
    10. ↑ Voltaire (1727). An Essay upon the Civil Wars of France, extracted from curious Manuscripts and also upon the Epick Poetry of the European Nations, from Homer down to Milton. London, England: Samuel Jallasson. p. 104. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021. From p. 104: 'In the like Manner Pythagoras ow'd the Invention of Musik to the noise of the Hammer of a Blacksmith. And thus in our Days Sir Isaak Newton walking in his Garden had the first Thought of his System of Gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a Tree.'
    11. ↑ Voltaire (1786) heard the story of Newton and the apple tree from Newton's niece, Catherine Conduit (née Barton) (1679–1740): Voltaire (1786). Oeuvres completes de Voltaire [The complete works of Voltaire] (in French). Vol. 31. Basel, Switzerland: Jean-Jacques Tourneisen. p. 175. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021. From p. 175: "Un jour en l'année 1666, Newton retiré à la campagne, et voyant tomber des fruits d'un arbre, à ce que m'a conté sa nièce, (Mme Conduit) se laissa aller à une méditation profonde sur la cause qui entraine ainsi tous les corps dans une ligne, qui, si elle était prolongée, passerait à peu près par le centre de la terre." (One day in the year 1666 Newton withdrew to the country, and seeing the fruits of a tree fall, according to what his niece (Madame Conduit) told me, he entered into a deep meditation on the cause that draws all bodies in a [straight] line, which, if it were extended, would pass very near to the center of the Earth.)
    12. ↑ McKie, D.; de Beer, G. R. (1952). "Newton's Apple: An Addendum". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 9 (2): 333–335. doi: 10.1098/rsnr.1952.0020 . ISSN   0035-9149. JSTOR   3087221. S2CID   144544715.
    13. 1 2 3 Gribbin, John; Gribbin, Mary (2017). Out of the shadow of a giant: Hooke, Halley and the birth of British science. London: William Collins. pp. 165–175. ISBN   978-0-00-822059-4. OCLC   966239842.
    14. ↑ "newtons-apple-tree". Royal Society. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
    15. ↑ "Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life by William Stukeley, page 15". Royal Society, "Turning the pages". Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
    16. ↑ "Newton's apple tree | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
    17. ↑ Turnbull, H W, ed. (1960). "150 Newton to Oldenberg". Correspondence of Isaac Newton. Vol. 1 (1661-1675). Cambridge University Press. OCLC   769886773.
    18. ↑ Hooke, Robert (1679). " An Attempt to prove the Annual Motion of the Earth". Lectiones Cutlerianae, or A collection of lectures, physical, mechanical, geographical & astronomical : made before the Royal Society on several occasions at Gresham Colledge [i.e. College] : to which are added divers miscellaneous discourses. p. 2, 3.
    19. ↑ "How Isaac Newton's Apple Tree Spread Across the World". Atlas Obscura. 26 June 2018. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    20. 1 2 3 Gefter, Amanda Gefter (18 January 2010). "Newton's apple: The real story". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    21. 1 2 "the-most-famous-apple-tree-in-the-world". The National Trust. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
    22. ↑ Gould, Richard G. (2002). "Isaac Newton's Apple Trees". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 88 (3/4): 103–112. ISSN   0043-0439. JSTOR   24531138. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    23. ↑ Martínez, Alberto A. (2011). Science secrets: the truth about Darwin's finches, Einstein's wife, and other myths. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh press. p. 69. ISBN   978-0-8229-4407-2.
    24. ↑ "Isaac Newton's Tree". National Fruit Collection. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
    25. ↑ Conocimiento, Ventana al (18 March 2021). "The Legend of Newton's Apple Tree | OpenMind's Puzzles". OpenMind. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
    26. 1 2 "Newton's apple tree has descendants and clones all over the world". Big Think. 15 November 2022. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    27. ↑ The Royal Family Channel (4 June 2014). Queen rides new carriage made from Isaac Newton's apple tree.
    28. ↑ "Newton's apple tree bound for gravity-free space". The Economic Times. 8 May 2010. ISSN   0013-0389. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    29. ↑ "Newton's apple tree off to zero gravity". The Denver Post. Associated Press. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    30. ↑ Luscombe, Richard (9 May 2010). "Isaac Newton's apple tree to experience zero gravity – in space". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
    31. ↑ updated, Tariq Malik last (10 May 2010). "Piece of Newton's Apple Tree to Escape Gravity on Space Shuttle". Space.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
    32. ↑ "Newton's famous apple tree to experience zero gravity | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
    33. ↑ "Newton tree sample set for space". BBC. 10 May 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    34. ↑ Blenkin, Max (13 January 2020). "Newton's apple tree seeds from space propagated into saplings". www.spaceconnectonline.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
    35. 1 2 "Trees planted grown from seeds that went into space". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 26 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
    36. ↑ "One of Newton". NPLWebsite. 13 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
    37. ↑ "Isaac Newton apple tree saplings auctioned in UK first". BBC News. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

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