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 In this photo taken Friday, January 15, 2010, Royal Society librarian Keith Moore holds the manuscript of 'Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton' by William Stukeley, pointing to the word 'gravitation', in London. An 18th-century account of how a falling piece of fruit helped Isaac Newton develop the theory of gravity is being posted to the Web on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010, making scans of the fragile paper manuscript widely available to the public for the first time.(Agencies) |
| It always falls down. That's how the apple helped Isaac Newton.
An 18th-century account of how Newton developed the theory of gravity was posted to the Web Monday, making the fragile paper manuscript widely available to the public for the first time. Newton's encounter with the apple ranks among science's most celebrated anecdotes, and it can now be read in the faded cursive script in which it was recorded by William Stukeley, Newton's contemporary. Royal Society librarian Keith Moore said the apple story has resonated for centuries because it packs in so much — an illustration of how modern science works, an implicit reference to the solar system and even an allusion to the Bible. When Newton describes the process of observing a falling apple and guessing at the principle behind it "he's talking about the scientific method," Moore said. "Also the shape of the apple recalls the planet — it's round — and of course the apple falling from the tree does indeed hark back to the story of Adam and Eve, and Newton as a religious man would have found that quite apt." The incident occurred in the mid-1660s, when Newton retreated to his family home in northern England after an outbreak of the plague closed the University of Cambridge, where he had been studying. Stukeley's manuscript recounts a spring afternoon in 1726 when the famous scientist shared the story over tea "under the shade of some apple trees." Stukeley wrote that Newton told him the notion of gravity popped into the scientist's mind as he was sitting in the same situation. "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 ... Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth's center?" Stukeley wrote. "Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter." Stukeley's account on the Royal Society's Web site joins notes from Newton's 17th-century scientific rival Robert Hooke — documents that were lost for several hundred years before their recent discovery in a house in England. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.) 點(diǎn)擊查看更多雙語新聞
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它總是垂直下落——蘋果正是這樣啟發(fā)了艾薩克?牛頓。 本周一，一份有關(guān)牛頓是如何發(fā)現(xiàn)萬有引力定律的18世紀(jì)的手稿被傳到網(wǎng)上，讓不易保存的紙質(zhì)手稿內(nèi)容首次在網(wǎng)上與公眾見面。 牛頓與蘋果的故事是最著名的科學(xué)軼事之一，現(xiàn)在這個(gè)故事竟可以在褪了色的手寫稿中讀到，這份手稿的內(nèi)容是由與牛頓同時(shí)代的（科學(xué)家）威廉?斯蒂克利記錄的。 摩爾說，當(dāng)牛頓描述觀察蘋果落地的過程并猜想其背后的原理時(shí)，“他說的是科學(xué)方法”。 英皇家學(xué)會(huì)網(wǎng)上公開牛頓等名人手稿 （中國日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: cursive:Having the successive letters joined together: 草書的：連續(xù)的字母連在一起的 hark back to: to remind you of, or to be like, something in the past 使想起 retreat: to escape to a place that is quieter or safer 隱退 perpendicularly: in a perpendicular manner 垂直地 |
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