Newton's apple tale given public outing

The account of Newton’s eureka moment, which led to his famous theory of gravity, forms part of William Stukeley’s 1752 biography of the great scientist.

Until now it has remained hidden away in the Royal Society’s archives, but from today anyone with Internet access will be able to look at it.

The manuscript is one of a number of archive documents being published online by Britain’s leading academic institution, the Royal Society, to mark its 350th anniversary.

Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society – and Newton’s modern-day successor – said: “Stukeley’s biography is a precious artefact for historians of science and I am delighted that it is being made available today, along with other treasures from the archives, in a format that allows anybody to view them as if they were holding the manuscript in front of them.”

Also available through the Royal Society’s Turning the Pages initiative is the design for Thomas Paine’s revolutionary iron bridge, the philosopher John Locke’s contribution to an early version of the American constitution, and rare natural history illustrations from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

Stukeley heard how Newton’s thoughts turned to gravity as the two men sat in the shade of some apple trees in the scientist’s garden.

An extract from Stukeley’s memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life reads: “He told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came to mind. It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descent perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself.”

Stukeley also gathered material about Newton’s younger days from residents of Grantham, Lincolnshire, where he went to school.

One story tells of the young Newton building a working scale model of a windmill. Unimpressed by wind power, Newton built a fully functional mouse-driven mill “which worked it as naturally as the wind”.

Turning the Pages can be accessed on the website www.royalsociety. org/turning-the-pages