Newton’s apple script on Net

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Sir Isaac Newton’s encounter with an apple is said to be the science’s most celebrated anecdote. Now, a fragile manuscript that tells the original story of how the fruit inspired him, has dropped on the Net.

The handwritten account of Newton’s "eureka" moment, which led to his famous "theory of gravity", was recorded for posterity by the great scientist’s close friend and colleague William Stukeley in a 1752 biography. The extract, from Stukeley’s Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life, reads: "After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden 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 occasioned 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..."