Almost every child has grown up listening to the popular tale of Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity after an apple fell from a tree in the garden that inspired and hooked him to research and find the concept.Well, even though that sounds like a hooking anecdote, only to indulge the reader, there are actually several layers to the story.Even though, for a long time, many historians did dismiss it as just that, several excerpts and accounts tell otherwise.It happened not in a lecture hall or a laboratory, but at a quiet family home, during a time when the world outside was dealing with a deadly plague and surprisingly, the original old variety tree now actually exists around the world.Let’s dig in to find out how and why.
Isaac Newton’s apple tree (Photo: National Trust Images/Paul Harris)
The tree behind the legend of the falling apple
The story of Isaac Newton watching an apple fall and arriving at his theory of gravity has been told for generations, and dismissed as jest or farce.However, according to William Stukely, who in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life (1752), narrates a conversation with Newton himself, a year before the scientist’, which persay tells that the tale has genuine roots.In the summer of 1665, a 23-year-old Newton fled Cambridge to escape the Great Plague and returned to Woolsthorpe Manor, his family home in Lincolnshire. It was during this period at home, later called his “wonder year,” that Newton is believed to have observed the falling apple that sparked his thinking on gravity.Another source is the paper ‘The history of Newton’s Apple Tree’ by R. G. Keesing, published in Contemporary Physics in 1998, who claims that a small portion of the original apple tree was taken to make a chair out of it that is preserved at Woolsthorpe (the birthplace and family home of Sir Isaac Newton) to testify to it to this day.
What variety of apple was it
According to Discover Magazine, the original tree is believed to have been planted around 1650, meaning it was still relatively young when Newton witnessed the apple fall.The tree belongs to a rare and old variety known as “Flower of Kent,” which produces a fairly bland, green, mealy apple traditionally used for cooking rather than eating fresh.Though this specific variety has largely faded from popularity and commercial cultivation today, this particular tree has remained quite famous because of its association with Newton’s scientific breakthrough.
How the tree survived storms and time
Newton’s law of universal gravitation was eventually published in 1687 in his landmark work, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. As his influence grew, so did the reverence for the tree itself.It was blown down in a storm in 1820, and its wood was later turned into keepsakes, snuff boxes, and even a chair.Fortunately, according to Contemporary Physics, part of the tree was successfully rerooted and continues to grow at Woolsthorpe Manor even today, believed to be around 350 years old.
Where is the ‘Flower of Kent’ found today?
Surprisingly, its descendants are growing across the world. Grafted cuttings from the original tree have since been planted at several sites, keeping its legacy alive. Within the UK, “gravity trees” can be found outside Trinity College and at the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, as well as at the University of York and Loughborough University.Southern England also has the trees at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington and the Observatory Science Center in Herstmonceux.Europe’s only other descendant grows at the Technische Hochschule Wildau, near Berlin, Germany, extending the tree’s reach beyond British soil.
Newton’s tree was honoured and also taken into space
In 2012, to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee, the tree got a special honour, it was named one of the 50 Great British Trees, and its fame didn’t stop there either.According to the European Space Agency, in 2015, seeds from the tree were sent into space as part of an experiment by the ESA, aboard the International Space Station, during the Principia mission, where they floated for six months before returning to Earth.Over the years, the tree’s growing popularity meant that cuttings and shoots were planted at various places around the world. Today, you can find descendants of this original “gravity tree” growing at universities, botanical gardens, and research institutions across several countries.
What all places across the world host the tree?
The tree’s descendants now stretch far beyond Europe. The United States hosts the highest number, with 14 locations including MIT, Brown University, and the University of Wisconsin.Canada has three sites, including Toronto’s York University, while Argentina hosts two in South America. Africa’s sole tree grows at Babylonstoren in South Africa’s Western Cape, and Australia hosts three, at Monash University and CSIRO-Parkes Observatory.Asia also includes trees in Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan.
