Newton's apple

Click on this image to open a larger version. From the Royal Society archive.

The most famous anecdote of discovery in science is how Newton’s apple inspired the notion of gravity as a universal force. In 1752, William Stukeley set down the story in his manuscript “Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s life”, as it was told to him by Newton himself. “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself, occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood.”

View a high-quality scan of this manuscript in 'Turning the Pages'.