The tree that prompted the discovery of gravity is being taken into space aboard space shuttle Atlantis next week.
Of course, this is the tree that the Apple dropped out of and gave Newton a rather large bruise on his head and of course his idea about gravity. It’s a pity, but they’re not taking the whole tree up. I suppose it is a little bit big but they could have strapped it to the roof rack or attached a trailer.
The piece of wood that they are taking is a 4 inch slither of the actual tree and is being taken up for the Royal Society of London.
Newton Apple
This is what William Stuckeley (who happened to be close by) wrote on listening to the words that Newton spoke after the apple dropped-
“It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself … Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth’s center? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter.”
I would have eaten the Apple first.
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