Newton and that apple

This is really neat. One of those iconic stories of youth, similar to that of George Washington and his father's cherry tree, is that of Issac Netwon and the falling apple. But Newton's story actually has an historical basis. Newton related the story to William Stukeley who later recounted it in his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life. The Royal Society in Britain, celebrating 350 years of scientific inquiry, has a collection of manuscripts that can be viewed, including William Stukeley's. Visit their site to access the original manuscript.

Here is a picture of the page from the manuscript in which Stukeley tells the story.

"After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank thea, under the shade of some apple trees...he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself..."