November 6, 2024 • 17 mins
Sir Isaac Newton is best known for coming up with the theory of gravity while relaxing in his orchard, thanks to an apple that fell beside him one afternoon – helping him to unravel one of the universe's great mysteries.
But that story is only a small part of the tale...
Heather Birkett delves into one of the greatest minds of all time. Discover how a friendship with astronomer Edmund Halley helped to bring Isaac's ideas to the world and beyond.
[Ad from our sponsor]
This episode is supported by Blue Diamond Garden Centres. Fill your space with beauty and heritage with a collection of bulbs, seeds and plants, curated by Blue Diamond Garden Centres working with National Trust gardeners. A minimum of 10% of the retail selling price will be given to support the National Trust’s conservation work and ambitions to plant and establish 20 million trees by 2030.
https://www.bluediamond.gg/national-trust
Production
Host: Heather Birkett
Producers: Jack Glover and Michelle Douglass
Sound Design: Jesus Gomez
Discover more
This episode continues the story from a previous release 'Pips in Space | Featuring Tim Peake'. You could listen to that episode and hear more about the Newton Trees:
https://bit.ly/NTPod81
Find out more about Woolsthorpe Manor
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/woolsthorpe-manor
Read a biography about Sir Issac Newton
www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/
If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
HEATHER BIRKETT (00:32):
Hello, and welcome to the National Trust
Podcast. I'm Heather Birkett. Intoday's episode, we discover how
an ordinary incident led to oneof the greatest series of
thoughts in the history ofmankind and the unravelling of
the mysteries of the universe.
(00:53):
Today, rather than starting ourjourney in the grounds of a
National Trust property, we'vemade our way to the iconic
biospheres and exotic plantcollection of the Eden Project
in St Austell, Cornwall.
Amongst all of Eden's excitingflora and fauna sits a very
ordinary looking Apple treesapling that looks a bit out of
place.
(01:14):
It's skinny and spindly, andcompared to some of its
neighbours, looks a little bitplain Jane.
But you should never judge abook by its cover, because this
sapling has one inspirationalstory to tell. [
GENERIC (01:28):
SFX] 3, 2, 1, 0. Engines at maximum thrust for
lift off.
TIMOTHY PEAKE (01:38):
There's an incredible amount of power,
noise and vibration as theengines accelerate to full
thrust.
There's not a huge amount ofacceleration in the first few
seconds. It's 300 tonnes ofrocket lifting off.
My name is Tim Peake and I'm anastronaut with the European
Space Agency.
HEATHER BIRKETT (01:59):
The date is the 15th of December 2015. And Tim
has hitched a ride on theRussian Soyuz rocket on a
mission to the InternationalSpace Station. Quite possibly
the commute of a lifetime.
TIMOTHY PEAKE (02:13):
Quite quickly after leaving the launch pad,
that's when the accelerationreally kicks in.
You're on the way.
It's far noisier outside therocket for the spectators who
are about a kilometre away.
Inside, we have a number ofdifferent stages to go through.
The first stage will take us upto about 60 kilometers.
(02:34):
And then we jettison the firststage boosters. And at that
point, we have a really big dropin acceleration as those first
stage boosters fall away.
It's a much gentler, smootherride on the second stage with
just one engine firing.
That gets us above the Earth'satmosphere.
And that's when the nose fairingjettisons so we can get to see
(02:54):
the view of space approachingthrough the window.
And then the third stage kicksin, and that is pure
acceleration, up to about 4 Gsof acceleration.
It just goes on and on and on.The whole launch sequence lasts
for nearly nine minutes.
The idea, of course, is to getyou up to about 220 kilometers
(03:15):
at about 25 times the speed ofsound. So it's a wild ride.
You really are feeling the fullforce of that rocket's
acceleration. And then, youknow, within a fraction of a
second, the engine cuts out. Andwe're in zero-g.
Very quiet, very peaceful, andeverything floats inside the
(03:37):
spacecraft. And you know thatyou safely made it to orbit.
HEATHER BIRKETT (03:43):
Hitching a ride alongside Tim on this mission
are the seeds from which theApple tree at the Eden Project
grew, and for quite asignificant reason. It's a story
that you may be familiar with.
It all started hundreds of yearsago on the 25th of December with
the birth of a very specialchild.
(04:04):
Richard Fairhead, National Trustvolunteer, explains more.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (04:09):
On the 25th of December, a baby was born
surrounded by farm animals.
Some chickens, a few pigs, Ihave no doubt, and some fields
for vegetables.
The main crop, if you can callit a crop, were sheep. In
Lincolnshire, of course, sheepand wool were very important in
those days, and his mother wasvery keen that he should take on
(04:33):
the farm.
HEATHER BIRKETT (04:34):
But rather than agriculture, this young man had
his mind set on other things.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (04:42):
He was interested in how things worked.
He made models. There's onefamous model he made of a
windmill. He took it out intothe field, and the wind blew.
And it turned the sails just asit should.
Then the story goes on that hebrought it indoors and began to
(05:04):
think, well, it's not going towork indoors, there's no wind.
He thought about this for sometime and came up with the idea.
He made a little treadmill, likeyou have in a hamster cage,
found a real mouse, put themouse in the treadmill, the
mouse did its stuff, and turnedthe sails.
I think that's an indication ofhis practical approach to things
(05:24):
and his inquisitiveness and thatpractical approach to life
really saw him through the restof his life.
When he became a teenager, hismother sent him to Grantham, to
the King School.
HEATHER BIRKETT (05:40):
But school sadly didn't give this young man
the kind of education that heneeded to feed his inquisitive
mind.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (05:47):
They weren't teaching much in the way of
science and the sort of thingsthat he was really interested
in.
HEATHER BIRKETT (05:52):
And despite having her mind set, on him
taking over the farm afterschool, his mother was
eventually persuaded to let himgo to university.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (06:06):
In 1661, he went off to Cambridge, to
Trinity College.
HEATHER BIRKETT (06:13):
And even here, he still wasn't able to get the
kind of education that hedesired.
But finally, in 1665, he got hisdegree. And free to study more
autonomously, he was able toresearch the things that
interested him.
But this was short-lived.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (06:31):
In 1665, in London, the plague hit, the
bubonic plague.
And it was beginning to go outto other parts of the country.
And they were so worried atCambridge that if it got there,
with all the people meeting inthe university, it would be a
real disaster.
So they took the decision toclose the university and sent
(06:55):
everybody home.
HEATHER BIRKETT (06:58):
So our young scientist was sent back to
Lincoln to social distance. Butfar from disrupting his
research, lockdown gave him thetime and space to immerse
himself in his work.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (07:11):
So in about a year and a half, he got started
on some of his big ideas. Theworld changed in that year.
HEATHER BIRKETT (07:21):
He studied religion and philosophy,
experimented with lenses, andwas the first to split white
light into its rainbow spectrumwith a prism.
But it was an instance ofhappenstance while he was
relaxing in his apple orchardthat would lead to his greatest
discovery.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (07:38):
He was sitting underneath the tree, probably
reading a book, thinking aboutsome theory he was following up.
And as apples do, one of themfell down besides him.
And I guess he was a bitstartled. He looked up to see
where the Apple had come from.
And he began to think, whatmakes things fall directly to
the Earth? Is there some sort ofattraction?
(08:00):
Is there some sort of forcewhich is involved?
And of course, he thought aboutthis over the years to come, and
in time came up with this wholetheory of his about gravity.
HEATHER BIRKETT (08:13):
So in case you haven't guessed it yet, the man
we're talking about is Sir IsaacNewton and the property The
National Trust's WoolsthorpeManor in Lincoln, still home to
Newton's Apple tree.
His theory of gravity issomething we now take for
granted. But in the 1600s,according to Dr Cornelius
Schilt, postdoctoral scholar atOxford, this realisation had a
(08:36):
monumental impact.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (08:39):
It changed the world of mathematics and the
world of natural philosophy tosuch a degree that the entire
18th century, so the followingcentury, was basically designed
as a confirmation of what Newtonhad written.
HEATHER BIRKETT (08:54):
However, despite the revolutionary impact
of Isaac's encounter, gravitymay not have been something that
occupied many of his thoughts.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (09:03):
He's much more interested in optics. He
makes his own reflectingtelescopes. He's not really
thinking about gravity.
HEATHER BIRKETT (09:09):
But for some reason, in 1684, 20 years after
his apple inspiration, suddenlyhis thoughts once again turned
to gravity.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (09:18):
Out of the blue he drops everything that
he's doing, and he startswriting the Principia.
HEATHER BIRKETT (09:25):
The Principia, or to give it its full name,
Philosophiae Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica, was a three-volume
publication where Newton firstdescribed his theory for the
universal law of gravitation.
But for Newton himself, and forthose in his closest circle, his
(09:47):
world-changing ideas needed alot of encouragement to be
shared in the first place.
JENNIE JOHNS (09:56):
I don't think that he was perhaps as self-confident
as automatically assumed thatthis bright, intelligent mind
would be. He needed the help ofothers to get him where he was.
HEATHER BIRKETT (10:03):
This is Jennie Johns, part of the team who look
after Newton's home atWoolsthorpe.
JENNIE JOHNS (10:09):
It's quite understood that he was a
difficult person. There's awell-known feud with a fellow
scientist, a German scientistcalled Leibniz, that they had a
difficult relationship.Similarly with Robert Hooke at
the Royal Society.
HEATHER BIRKETT (10:24):
To the Newton family, Isaac was forever
destined to look after the farmat the manor house that he had
inherited.
JENNIE JOHNS (10:30):
He was born here as lord of the manor since his
father pre-deceased him andspent a lot of time with his
grandmother after his motherremarried when he was three.
And his grandmother was aware ofhis position as lord of the
manor and therefore didn'treally encourage him to
socialise much with the localchildren.
And it's documented that when hewas at school later on as a
(10:51):
teenager in Grantham, at theKing's School, he got into a
playground argument with afellow pupil.
And that actually encouraged himto do better in his studies,
because at the time, he wasn't agreat student, he was at the
bottom of his class, not becausehe wasn't capable, but he was
just distracted by other thingsand he had other interests.
Today, if- we would reallyencourage that, and we would be
(11:15):
probably really excited to seethis mind at work.
But of course, back then, he wasviewed as probably being a bit
strange and different.
But look what he turned into.
HEATHER BIRKETT (11:27):
These feuds and fallings out ran as a continuous
theme throughout his life. As hematured, the physical fights
lessened, but the truculentpersonality remained.
Deep down, Newton was a veryintroverted person.
A biography from OxfordUniversity noting that; "Even in
(11:47):
his maturity, having becomerich, famous, laden with honours
and internationally acclaimed asone of the world's foremost
thinkers, he remained deeplyinsecure, given to fits of
depression and outbursts ofviolent temper, implacable in
pursuit of anyone by whom hefelt threatened."
(12:08):
While we can never truly knowthe inner workings of a person's
mind, we can, however, say withsome degree of confidence that
Newton's was full of ideas, butthat he himself felt alone and
unable to share them withanyone.
That was until he met theastronomer, Edmund Halley.
(12:30):
Halley had been working on atheory that there must be a
force that allowed planets to beattracted to the sun.
A force which allowed for theirmovement, but with a degree of
predictability. Halley hadpresented his ideas, but they
were quickly dismissed withouthaving any mathematical proof.
(12:51):
Keen to find a solution, Halleyheaded for Cambridge, where
Isaac Newton was working as aprofessor of mathematics.
The pair had met briefly beforein London and had shared some
letters theorising the movementof comets, but it was this
meeting that set in motion thebeginning of the Principia.
When presented with thechallenge of why planets move in
(13:13):
the way that they do, Newtonsuggested that they were
following an ellipse.
And furthermore, he had alreadycome up with the calculations to
prove it.
Halley was stunned, and Newtonwas encouraged. He was now
reassured that his thoughts andtheories could be met with the
praise he knew they deserved.
(13:39):
Halley continued to encourageNewton over the course of the
next 18 months, and in April of1686, his works were presented
to the Royal Society.
JENNIE JOHNS (13:48):
And he presented it to the Royal Society and
other scholars, and it wasslated. It was heavily
criticised. So he said, right,fine, that's it. I'll sit on it.
I won't publish it. That's it.Never talk about it again.
HEATHER BIRKETT (14:05):
One of the Society fellows, a scientist
named Robert Hooke, was leadingthe claim that this work had
been plagiarised, putting Newtoninto a position he was deeply
uncomfortable with.
Newton's immediate response wasto withdraw and threaten to pull
part of his manuscripts awayfrom publication.
(14:25):
Some months passed, andthankfully, with some more
gentle persuasion and theresolve of his friend Edmund
Halley, Newton was finallywarmed back to the idea that his
thoughts were worthwhile.
Robert Hooke's claims were neverheld up, and in June of the same
year, the Principia was giventhe go-ahead to be published and
(14:45):
printed from the Royal Society.
KEITH MOORE (14:50):
However, tracking back on what the Royal Society
was up to at that time, it had,the year before, published a
very good book, not as good asNewton's, and that was John Ray
and Francis Willoughby's Historyof Fishes.
HEATHER BIRKETT (15:07):
This is Keith Moore, head of collections at
the Royal Society Library.
Although the book had been giventhe green light, there was no
money to pay for it to getthrough the printers.
KEITH MOORE (15:18):
The Society's finances were somewhat
embarrassed, shall we say. Itmeant that they couldn't afford
to print Newton's PrincipiaMathematica.
That meant Halley got the job ofdoing it and paying the costs as
well.
So, Halley is really ascientific hero because he made
it possible for PrincipiaMathematica to appear.
HEATHER BIRKETT (15:41):
So, Principia had finally made it into the
world, and with it, a brand newunderstanding of how the
universe behaves.
Today, we remember Isaac Newtonand a chance happening in an
orchard for unlocking many ofthe scientific ideas that we
hold in the present.
The simple act of an applefalling to the ground became the
perfect and understandablesymbol of how our planets and
(16:05):
stars align under the force ofgravity.
Pips from Newton's Apple treehave now grown into plants of
their own in the gardens at theEden Project, the United Nations
in Vienna, and back at homealongside the original at
Woolsthorpe Manor.
As for Edmund Halley, he usedhis friend's workings to predict
(16:26):
the movement and appearance ofone of the most well-known
comets in the sky, Halley'sComet.
And in case you're wondering, hewas eventually repaid by the
Royal Society for fronting thecosts to have the Principia
published in unsold copies ofThe History of Fishes.
(16:55):
Thank you for listening to theNational Trust Podcast. To find
out more about Isaac Newton andhis life at Woolsthorpe, please
take a look at the links in ourshow notes.
To be the first to hear newepisodes, be sure to subscribe
or follow this show in yourfavourite podcast app.
And if you like anything thatyou have heard or want to get in
touch, you can reach us byemailing
(17:17):
podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk.
We'll be back soon with a newepisode. But until next time,
from me, Heather Birkett,goodbye.
Hello, and welcome to the National Trust
Podcast. I'm Heather Birkett. Intoday's episode, we discover how
an ordinary incident led to oneof the greatest series of
thoughts in the history ofmankind and the unravelling of
the mysteries of the universe.
(00:53):
Today, rather than starting ourjourney in the grounds of a
National Trust property, we'vemade our way to the iconic
biospheres and exotic plantcollection of the Eden Project
in St Austell, Cornwall.
Amongst all of Eden's excitingflora and fauna sits a very
ordinary looking Apple treesapling that looks a bit out of
place.
(01:14):
It's skinny and spindly, andcompared to some of its
neighbours, looks a little bitplain Jane.
But you should never judge abook by its cover, because this
sapling has one inspirationalstory to tell. [
GENERIC (01:28):
SFX] 3, 2, 1, 0. Engines at maximum thrust for
lift off.
TIMOTHY PEAKE (01:38):
There's an incredible amount of power,
noise and vibration as theengines accelerate to full
thrust.
There's not a huge amount ofacceleration in the first few
seconds. It's 300 tonnes ofrocket lifting off.
My name is Tim Peake and I'm anastronaut with the European
Space Agency.
HEATHER BIRKETT (01:59):
The date is the 15th of December 2015. And Tim
has hitched a ride on theRussian Soyuz rocket on a
mission to the InternationalSpace Station. Quite possibly
the commute of a lifetime.
TIMOTHY PEAKE (02:13):
Quite quickly after leaving the launch pad,
that's when the accelerationreally kicks in.
You're on the way.
It's far noisier outside therocket for the spectators who
are about a kilometre away.
Inside, we have a number ofdifferent stages to go through.
The first stage will take us upto about 60 kilometers.
(02:34):
And then we jettison the firststage boosters. And at that
point, we have a really big dropin acceleration as those first
stage boosters fall away.
It's a much gentler, smootherride on the second stage with
just one engine firing.
That gets us above the Earth'satmosphere.
And that's when the nose fairingjettisons so we can get to see
(02:54):
the view of space approachingthrough the window.
And then the third stage kicksin, and that is pure
acceleration, up to about 4 Gsof acceleration.
It just goes on and on and on.The whole launch sequence lasts
for nearly nine minutes.
The idea, of course, is to getyou up to about 220 kilometers
(03:15):
at about 25 times the speed ofsound. So it's a wild ride.
You really are feeling the fullforce of that rocket's
acceleration. And then, youknow, within a fraction of a
second, the engine cuts out. Andwe're in zero-g.
Very quiet, very peaceful, andeverything floats inside the
(03:37):
spacecraft. And you know thatyou safely made it to orbit.
HEATHER BIRKETT (03:43):
Hitching a ride alongside Tim on this mission
are the seeds from which theApple tree at the Eden Project
grew, and for quite asignificant reason. It's a story
that you may be familiar with.
It all started hundreds of yearsago on the 25th of December with
the birth of a very specialchild.
(04:04):
Richard Fairhead, National Trustvolunteer, explains more.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (04:09):
On the 25th of December, a baby was born
surrounded by farm animals.
Some chickens, a few pigs, Ihave no doubt, and some fields
for vegetables.
The main crop, if you can callit a crop, were sheep. In
Lincolnshire, of course, sheepand wool were very important in
those days, and his mother wasvery keen that he should take on
(04:33):
the farm.
HEATHER BIRKETT (04:34):
But rather than agriculture, this young man had
his mind set on other things.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (04:42):
He was interested in how things worked.
He made models. There's onefamous model he made of a
windmill. He took it out intothe field, and the wind blew.
And it turned the sails just asit should.
Then the story goes on that hebrought it indoors and began to
(05:04):
think, well, it's not going towork indoors, there's no wind.
He thought about this for sometime and came up with the idea.
He made a little treadmill, likeyou have in a hamster cage,
found a real mouse, put themouse in the treadmill, the
mouse did its stuff, and turnedthe sails.
I think that's an indication ofhis practical approach to things
(05:24):
and his inquisitiveness and thatpractical approach to life
really saw him through the restof his life.
When he became a teenager, hismother sent him to Grantham, to
the King School.
HEATHER BIRKETT (05:40):
But school sadly didn't give this young man
the kind of education that heneeded to feed his inquisitive
mind.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (05:47):
They weren't teaching much in the way of
science and the sort of thingsthat he was really interested
in.
HEATHER BIRKETT (05:52):
And despite having her mind set, on him
taking over the farm afterschool, his mother was
eventually persuaded to let himgo to university.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (06:06):
In 1661, he went off to Cambridge, to
Trinity College.
HEATHER BIRKETT (06:13):
And even here, he still wasn't able to get the
kind of education that hedesired.
But finally, in 1665, he got hisdegree. And free to study more
autonomously, he was able toresearch the things that
interested him.
But this was short-lived.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (06:31):
In 1665, in London, the plague hit, the
bubonic plague.
And it was beginning to go outto other parts of the country.
And they were so worried atCambridge that if it got there,
with all the people meeting inthe university, it would be a
real disaster.
So they took the decision toclose the university and sent
(06:55):
everybody home.
HEATHER BIRKETT (06:58):
So our young scientist was sent back to
Lincoln to social distance. Butfar from disrupting his
research, lockdown gave him thetime and space to immerse
himself in his work.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (07:11):
So in about a year and a half, he got started
on some of his big ideas. Theworld changed in that year.
HEATHER BIRKETT (07:21):
He studied religion and philosophy,
experimented with lenses, andwas the first to split white
light into its rainbow spectrumwith a prism.
But it was an instance ofhappenstance while he was
relaxing in his apple orchardthat would lead to his greatest
discovery.
RICHARD FAIRHEAD (07:38):
He was sitting underneath the tree, probably
reading a book, thinking aboutsome theory he was following up.
And as apples do, one of themfell down besides him.
And I guess he was a bitstartled. He looked up to see
where the Apple had come from.
And he began to think, whatmakes things fall directly to
the Earth? Is there some sort ofattraction?
(08:00):
Is there some sort of forcewhich is involved?
And of course, he thought aboutthis over the years to come, and
in time came up with this wholetheory of his about gravity.
HEATHER BIRKETT (08:13):
So in case you haven't guessed it yet, the man
we're talking about is Sir IsaacNewton and the property The
National Trust's WoolsthorpeManor in Lincoln, still home to
Newton's Apple tree.
His theory of gravity issomething we now take for
granted. But in the 1600s,according to Dr Cornelius
Schilt, postdoctoral scholar atOxford, this realisation had a
(08:36):
monumental impact.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (08:39):
It changed the world of mathematics and the
world of natural philosophy tosuch a degree that the entire
18th century, so the followingcentury, was basically designed
as a confirmation of what Newtonhad written.
HEATHER BIRKETT (08:54):
However, despite the revolutionary impact
of Isaac's encounter, gravitymay not have been something that
occupied many of his thoughts.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (09:03):
He's much more interested in optics. He
makes his own reflectingtelescopes. He's not really
thinking about gravity.
HEATHER BIRKETT (09:09):
But for some reason, in 1684, 20 years after
his apple inspiration, suddenlyhis thoughts once again turned
to gravity.
DR CORNELIUS SCHILT (09:18):
Out of the blue he drops everything that
he's doing, and he startswriting the Principia.
HEATHER BIRKETT (09:25):
The Principia, or to give it its full name,
Philosophiae Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica, was a three-volume
publication where Newton firstdescribed his theory for the
universal law of gravitation.
But for Newton himself, and forthose in his closest circle, his
(09:47):
world-changing ideas needed alot of encouragement to be
shared in the first place.
JENNIE JOHNS (09:56):
I don't think that he was perhaps as self-confident
as automatically assumed thatthis bright, intelligent mind
would be. He needed the help ofothers to get him where he was.
HEATHER BIRKETT (10:03):
This is Jennie Johns, part of the team who look
after Newton's home atWoolsthorpe.
JENNIE JOHNS (10:09):
It's quite understood that he was a
difficult person. There's awell-known feud with a fellow
scientist, a German scientistcalled Leibniz, that they had a
difficult relationship.Similarly with Robert Hooke at
the Royal Society.
HEATHER BIRKETT (10:24):
To the Newton family, Isaac was forever
destined to look after the farmat the manor house that he had
inherited.
JENNIE JOHNS (10:30):
He was born here as lord of the manor since his
father pre-deceased him andspent a lot of time with his
grandmother after his motherremarried when he was three.
And his grandmother was aware ofhis position as lord of the
manor and therefore didn'treally encourage him to
socialise much with the localchildren.
And it's documented that when hewas at school later on as a
(10:51):
teenager in Grantham, at theKing's School, he got into a
playground argument with afellow pupil.
And that actually encouraged himto do better in his studies,
because at the time, he wasn't agreat student, he was at the
bottom of his class, not becausehe wasn't capable, but he was
just distracted by other thingsand he had other interests.
Today, if- we would reallyencourage that, and we would be
(11:15):
probably really excited to seethis mind at work.
But of course, back then, he wasviewed as probably being a bit
strange and different.
But look what he turned into.
HEATHER BIRKETT (11:27):
These feuds and fallings out ran as a continuous
theme throughout his life. As hematured, the physical fights
lessened, but the truculentpersonality remained.
Deep down, Newton was a veryintroverted person.
A biography from OxfordUniversity noting that; "Even in
(11:47):
his maturity, having becomerich, famous, laden with honours
and internationally acclaimed asone of the world's foremost
thinkers, he remained deeplyinsecure, given to fits of
depression and outbursts ofviolent temper, implacable in
pursuit of anyone by whom hefelt threatened."
(12:08):
While we can never truly knowthe inner workings of a person's
mind, we can, however, say withsome degree of confidence that
Newton's was full of ideas, butthat he himself felt alone and
unable to share them withanyone.
That was until he met theastronomer, Edmund Halley.
(12:30):
Halley had been working on atheory that there must be a
force that allowed planets to beattracted to the sun.
A force which allowed for theirmovement, but with a degree of
predictability. Halley hadpresented his ideas, but they
were quickly dismissed withouthaving any mathematical proof.
(12:51):
Keen to find a solution, Halleyheaded for Cambridge, where
Isaac Newton was working as aprofessor of mathematics.
The pair had met briefly beforein London and had shared some
letters theorising the movementof comets, but it was this
meeting that set in motion thebeginning of the Principia.
When presented with thechallenge of why planets move in
(13:13):
the way that they do, Newtonsuggested that they were
following an ellipse.
And furthermore, he had alreadycome up with the calculations to
prove it.
Halley was stunned, and Newtonwas encouraged. He was now
reassured that his thoughts andtheories could be met with the
praise he knew they deserved.
(13:39):
Halley continued to encourageNewton over the course of the
next 18 months, and in April of1686, his works were presented
to the Royal Society.
JENNIE JOHNS (13:48):
And he presented it to the Royal Society and
other scholars, and it wasslated. It was heavily
criticised. So he said, right,fine, that's it. I'll sit on it.
I won't publish it. That's it.Never talk about it again.
HEATHER BIRKETT (14:05):
One of the Society fellows, a scientist
named Robert Hooke, was leadingthe claim that this work had
been plagiarised, putting Newtoninto a position he was deeply
uncomfortable with.
Newton's immediate response wasto withdraw and threaten to pull
part of his manuscripts awayfrom publication.
(14:25):
Some months passed, andthankfully, with some more
gentle persuasion and theresolve of his friend Edmund
Halley, Newton was finallywarmed back to the idea that his
thoughts were worthwhile.
Robert Hooke's claims were neverheld up, and in June of the same
year, the Principia was giventhe go-ahead to be published and
(14:45):
printed from the Royal Society.
KEITH MOORE (14:50):
However, tracking back on what the Royal Society
was up to at that time, it had,the year before, published a
very good book, not as good asNewton's, and that was John Ray
and Francis Willoughby's Historyof Fishes.
HEATHER BIRKETT (15:07):
This is Keith Moore, head of collections at
the Royal Society Library.
Although the book had been giventhe green light, there was no
money to pay for it to getthrough the printers.
KEITH MOORE (15:18):
The Society's finances were somewhat
embarrassed, shall we say. Itmeant that they couldn't afford
to print Newton's PrincipiaMathematica.
That meant Halley got the job ofdoing it and paying the costs as
well.
So, Halley is really ascientific hero because he made
it possible for PrincipiaMathematica to appear.
HEATHER BIRKETT (15:41):
So, Principia had finally made it into the
world, and with it, a brand newunderstanding of how the
universe behaves.
Today, we remember Isaac Newtonand a chance happening in an
orchard for unlocking many ofthe scientific ideas that we
hold in the present.
The simple act of an applefalling to the ground became the
perfect and understandablesymbol of how our planets and
(16:05):
stars align under the force ofgravity.
Pips from Newton's Apple treehave now grown into plants of
their own in the gardens at theEden Project, the United Nations
in Vienna, and back at homealongside the original at
Woolsthorpe Manor.
As for Edmund Halley, he usedhis friend's workings to predict
(16:26):
the movement and appearance ofone of the most well-known
comets in the sky, Halley'sComet.
And in case you're wondering, hewas eventually repaid by the
Royal Society for fronting thecosts to have the Principia
published in unsold copies ofThe History of Fishes.
(16:55):
Thank you for listening to theNational Trust Podcast. To find
out more about Isaac Newton andhis life at Woolsthorpe, please
take a look at the links in ourshow notes.
To be the first to hear newepisodes, be sure to subscribe
or follow this show in yourfavourite podcast app.
And if you like anything thatyou have heard or want to get in
touch, you can reach us byemailing
(17:17):
podcasts@nationaltrust.org.uk.
We'll be back soon with a newepisode. But until next time,
from me, Heather Birkett,goodbye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.