Editing Isaac Newton (section)

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Isaac Newton in popular culture}}

=== Recognition ===
[[File:Tumba de Isaac Newton - panoramio (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Newton's tomb monument in [[Westminster Abbey]] by [[John Michael Rysbrack]]]]

The mathematician and astronomer [[Joseph Louis Lagrange|Joseph-Louis Lagrange]] frequently asserted that Newton was the greatest [[genius]] who ever lived,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Andrade |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQqLHyd8K0IC&pg=PA275 |title=The World of Mathematics: Volume 1 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780486411538 |editor-last=Newman |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Newman |edition=Reprint |page=275 |chapter=Isaac Newton}}</ref> and once added that Newton was also "the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish."<ref>Fred L. Wilson, ''History of Science: Newton'' citing: Delambre, M. "Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. le comte J.L. Lagrange", ''Oeuvres de Lagrange'' I. Paris, 1867, p. xx.</ref> English poet [[Alexander Pope]] wrote the famous [[epitaph]]:

{{blockquote|Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night.<br />
God said, ''Let Newton be!'' and all was light.}}

But this was not allowed to be inscribed in Newton's monument at Westminster. The epitaph added is as follows:<ref name="westminster_newton">{{Cite news |last=Westminster Abbey |title=Sir Isaac Newton Scientist, Mathematician and Astronomer |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/ko/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/sir-isaac-newton |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809191135/https://www.westminster-abbey.org/ko/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/sir-isaac-newton |archive-date=9 August 2022 |access-date=19 January 2022 |newspaper=Westminster Abbey}}</ref>

{{blockquote|{{lang|la|H. S. E. ISAACUS NEWTON Eques Auratus, / Qui, animi vi prope divinâ, / Planetarum Motus, Figuras, / Cometarum semitas, Oceanique Aestus. Suâ Mathesi facem praeferente / Primus demonstravit: / Radiorum Lucis dissimilitudines, / Colorumque inde nascentium proprietates, / Quas nemo antea vel suspicatus erat, pervestigavit. / Naturae, Antiquitatis, S. Scripturae, / Sedulus, sagax, fidus Interpres / Dei O. M. Majestatem Philosophiâ asseruit, / Evangelij Simplicitatem Moribus expressit. / Sibi gratulentur Mortales, / Tale tantumque exstitisse / HUMANI GENERIS DECUS. / NAT. XXV DEC. A.D. MDCXLII. OBIIT. XX. MAR. MDCCXXVI,}}}}

which can be translated as follows:<ref name="westminster_newton" />

{{blockquote|Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25th December 1642, and died on 20th March 1726.}}

Newton has been called "the most influential figure in the history of Western science",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=John G. |url=https://archive.org/details/scientific100ran0000simm/page/3 |title=The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present |publisher=Citadel Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8065-1749-0 |location=Secaucus, New Jersey |page=3}}</ref> and has been regarded as "the central figure in the history of science", who "more than anyone else is the source of our great confidence in the power of science."<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Rowlands |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRM0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |title=Newton and Modern Physics |publisher=[[World Scientific Publishing]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78634-332-1 |location= |page=20}}</ref> ''[[New Scientist]]'' called Newton "the supreme genius and most enigmatic character in the history of science".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Isaac Newton |url=https://www.newscientist.com/people/isaac-newton/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928162212/https://www.newscientist.com/people/isaac-newton/ |archive-date=28 September 2023 |access-date=28 September 2023 |website=New Scientist}}</ref> The philosopher and historian [[David Hume]] also declared that Newton was "the greatest and rarest genius that ever arose for the ornament and instruction of the species".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Claudia M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSXlNY6xIMoC&pg=PA101 |title=David Hume: Reason in History |date=2003 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-02264-2 |location= |pages=101–102}}</ref> In his home of [[Monticello]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], a [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]] and [[President of the United States]], kept portraits of [[John Locke]], [[Francis Bacon|Sir Francis Bacon]], and Newton, whom he described as "the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception", and who he credited with laying "the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayes |first=Kevin J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eDQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA370 |title=The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |others=Thomas Jefferson |isbn=978-0-19-989583-0 |edition= |location= |pages=370 |language=en}}</ref>

Newton has further been called "the towering figure of the [[Scientific Revolution]]" and that "In a period rich with outstanding thinkers, Newton was simply the most outstanding." The polymath [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] labeled Newton's birth as the "[[Christmas]] of the modern age".<ref name=":9" /> In the Italian polymath [[Vilfredo Pareto]]'s estimation, Newton was the greatest human being who ever lived.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Jonathan H. |url=https://archive.org/details/emergenceofsocio0000turn_f1q7/page/366 |title=The Emergence of Sociological Theory |last2=Beeghley |first2=Leonard |last3=Powers |first3=Charles H. |date=1989 |publisher=Dorsey Press |isbn=978-0-256-06208-3 |edition=2nd |series= |location= |pages=366 |language=en}}</ref> On the bicentennial of Newton's death in 1927, astronomer [[James Jeans]] stated that he "was certainly the greatest man of science, and perhaps the greatest intellect, the human race has seen".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jeans |first=J. H. |date=1927-03-26 |title=Isaac Newton |url=https://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/119028a0x |journal=Nature |volume=119 |issue=2995supp |pages=28–30 |doi=10.1038/119028a0x |issn=0028-0836}}</ref> Physicist Peter Rowlands also notes that Newton was "possibly possessed of the most powerful intellect in the whole of human history".<ref name=":23" /> Newton ultimately conceived four revolutions—in optics, mathematics, mechanics, and gravity—but also foresaw a fifth in electricity, though he lacked the time and energy in old age to fully accomplish it.<ref name=":10">{{Cite magazine |last=Morrow |first=Lance |author-link=Lance Morrow |date=1999-12-31 |title=17th Century: Isaac Newton (1642-1727) |url=https://time.com/archive/6737426/17th-century-isaac-newton-1642-1727/ |access-date=2024-12-19 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rowlands |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRM0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=Newton And Modern Physics |publisher=World Scientific |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78634-332-1 |pages=24–25}}</ref> Newton's work is considered the most influential in bringing forth modern science.<ref name=":25">{{Cite journal |last=Westfall |first=Richard S. |author-link=Richard S. Westfall |date=1981 |title=The Career of Isaac Newton: A Scientific Life in the Seventeenth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41210741 |journal=The American Scholar |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=341–353 |issn=0003-0937 |jstor=41210741}}</ref>{{Sfn|Iliffe|Smith|2016|pp=1, 4, 12–16}}<ref name=":26">{{cite book |last=Snobelen |first=Stephen D. |contribution=Isaac Newton |date=24 February 2021 |title=Renaissance and Reformation |url=https://oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0462.xml |access-date=15 November 2024 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399301-0462 |isbn=978-0-19-539930-1 |author-link=Stephen Snobelen}}</ref>

The physicist [[Ludwig Boltzmann]] called Newton's ''Principia'' "the first and greatest work ever written about [[theoretical physics]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boltzmann |first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig Boltzmann |url=https://archive.org/details/theoretical-physics-and-philosophical-problems-selected-writings/page/157 |title=Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems: Selected Writings |date=1974 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-90-277-0250-0 |editor-last=McGuinness |editor-first=Brian |location= |pages=157}}</ref> Physicist [[Stephen Hawking]] similarly called ''Principia'' "probably the most important single work ever published in the [[Outline of physical science|physical sciences]]".<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Pask |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Pask |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRhnAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece |date=2013 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-746-4 |location= |page=11}}</ref> Lagrange called ''Principia'' "the greatest production of the human mind", and noted that "he felt dazed at such an illustration of what man's intellect might be capable".<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Ball |first=W. W. Rouse |author-link=W. W. Rouse Ball |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIxsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA352 |title=A Short Account of the History of Mathematics |publisher=Macmillan & Co. |year=1915 |edition=6th |pages=352}}</ref>

Physicist [[Edward Andrade]] stated that Newton "was capable of greater sustained mental effort than any man, before or since", and noted earlier the place of Isaac Newton in history, stating:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Andrade |title=The World of Mathematics: Volume 1 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780486411538 |editor-last=Newman |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Newman |edition=Reprint |pages=255, 275 |chapter=Isaac Newton |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQqLHyd8K0IC&pg=PA255}}</ref>{{blockquote|From time to time in the history of mankind a man arises who is of universal significance, whose work changes the current of human thought or of human experience, so that all that comes after him bears evidence of his spirit. Such a man was [[Shakespeare]], such a man was [[Beethoven]], such a man was Newton, and, of the three, his kingdom is the most widespread.}}The French physicist and mathematician [[Jean-Baptiste Biot]] praised Newton's genius, stating that:<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Edmund Fillingham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5O49AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA97 |title=A Biographical Sketch of Sir Isaac Newton |publisher=S. Ridge & Son |year=1858 |edition=2nd |pages=97}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Never was the supremacy of intellect so justly established and so fully confessed . . . In mathematical and in experimental science without an equal and without an example; combining the genius for both in its highest degree.}}Despite his rivalry with [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Gottfried Wilhem Leibniz]], Leibniz still praised the work of Newton, with him responding to a question at a dinner in 1701 from [[Sophia Charlotte of Hanover|Sophia Charlotte]], the Queen of Prussia, about his view of Newton with:<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schorling |first1=Raleigh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMZXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA418 |title=General Mathematics |last2=Reeve |first2=William David |publisher=Ginn & Company |year=1919 |pages=418 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Westfall|1994|p=282}}{{blockquote|Taking mathematics from the beginning of the world to the time of when Newton lived, what he had done was much the better half.}}
Mathematician [[Eric Temple Bell|E.T. Bell]] ranked Newton alongside [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] and [[Archimedes]] as the three greatest mathematicians of all time,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=Eric Temple |author-link=Eric Temple Bell |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQqLHyd8K0IC&pg=PA295 |title=The World of Mathematics: Volume 1 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780486411538 |editor-last=Newman |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Newman |edition=Reprint |pages=294–295 |chapter=Gauss, the Prince of Mathematicians}}</ref> with the mathematician [[Donald M. Davis (mathematician)|Donald M. Davis]] also noting that Newton is generally ranked with the other two as the greatest mathematicians ever.<ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Donald M. |author-link=Donald M. Davis (mathematician) |url=https://archive.org/details/naturepowerofmat0000davi/page/15 |title=The Nature and Power of Mathematics |date=1993 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=0-691-08783-0 |edition= |series= |location= |pages=15, 92, 366 |language=en}}</ref> In ''The Cambridge Companion to Isaac Newton'' (2016), he is described as being "from a very young age, an extraordinary problem-solver, as good, it would appear, as humanity has ever produced".{{Sfn|Iliffe|Smith|2016|p=30}} He is ultimately ranked among the top two or three greatest theoretical scientists ever, alongside [[James Clerk Maxwell]] and [[Albert Einstein]], the greatest mathematician ever alongside Carl F. Gauss, and among the best experimentalists ever, thereby "putting Newton in a class by himself among empirical scientists, for one has trouble in thinking of any other candidate who was in the first rank of even two of these categories." Also noted is "At least in comparison to subsequent scientists, Newton was also exceptional in his ability to put his scientific effort in much wider perspective".{{Sfn|Iliffe|Smith|2016|pp=15–16}} Gauss himself had Archimedes and Newton as his heroes,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldman |first=Jay R. |title=The Queen of Mathematics: A Historically Motivated Guide to Number Theory |date=1998 |publisher=A.K. Peters |isbn=978-1-56881-006-5 |location= |pages=88 |language=en}}</ref> and used terms such as [[wiktionary:clarissimus|''clarissimus'']] or [[wiktionary:magnus|''magnus'']] to describe other intellectuals such as great mathematicians and philosophers, but reserved [[wiktionary:summus|''summus'']] for Newton only, and once remarked that "Newton remains forever the master of all masters!"<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunnington |first=Guy Waldo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMH2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science |date=2004 |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |isbn=978-0-88385-547-8 |series= |pages=57, 232}}</ref> 

Albert Einstein kept a picture of Newton on his study wall alongside ones of [[Michael Faraday]] and of James Clerk Maxwell.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gleeson-White |first=Jane |date=10 November 2003 |title=Einstein's Heroes |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/einsteins-heroes-20031110-gdhr3v.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128115406/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/einsteins-heroes-20031110-gdhr3v.html |archive-date=28 November 2019 |access-date=29 September 2021 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> Einstein stated that Newton's creation of calculus in relation to his laws of motion was "perhaps the greatest advance in thought that a single individual was ever privileged to make."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Capra |first=Fritjof |author-link=Fritjof Capra |title=The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism |date=1975 |publisher=Shambhala |isbn=978-0-87773-078-1 |location=Berkeley |page=56 }}</ref> He also noted the influence of Newton, stating that:<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Pask |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Pask |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRhnAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece |date=2013 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-746-4 |location=Amherst, New York |page=11}}</ref>{{blockquote|The whole evolution of our ideas about the processes of nature, with which we have been concerned so far, might be regarded as an organic development of Newton's ideas.}}In 1999, an opinion poll of 100 of the day's leading physicists voted Einstein the "greatest physicist ever," with Newton the runner-up, while a parallel survey of rank-and-file physicists ranked Newton as the greatest.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 November 1999 |title=Opinion poll. Einstein voted 'greatest physicist ever' by leading physicists; Newton runner-up |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/541840.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812011359/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/541840.stm |archive-date=12 August 2017 |access-date=17 January 2012 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=29 November 1999 |title=Newton tops PhysicsWeb poll |url=https://physicsworld.com/a/newton-tops-physicsweb-poll/ |access-date=19 November 2024 |website=Physics World }}</ref> In 2005, a dual survey of both the public and of members of Britain's [[Royal Society]] (formerly headed by Newton) asking who had the greater effect on both the history of science and on the history of mankind, Newton or Einstein, both the public and the Royal Society deemed Newton to have made the greater overall contributions for both.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 November 2005 |title=Newton beats Einstein in polls of scientists and the public |url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2012/newton-einstein/ |access-date=19 June 2024 |website=[[Royal Society]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=24 November 2005 |title=Newton beats Einstein in new poll |url=https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/11/24/1515693.htm |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=www.abc.net.au }}</ref>

In 1999, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] named Newton the [[Time Person of the Year#Special editions|Person of the Century]] for the 17th century.<ref name=":10" /> Newton placed sixth in the ''[[100 Greatest Britons]]'' poll conducted by [[BBC]] in 2002. However, in 2003, he was voted as the greatest [[British people|Briton]] in a poll conducted by [[BBC News (international TV channel)|BBC World]], with [[Winston Churchill]] second.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 August 2003 |title=Newton voted greatest Briton |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3151333.stm |access-date=22 November 2024 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> He was voted as the greatest [[Cantabrigian]] by [[University of Cambridge]] students in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-11-20 |title=Newton voted Greatest Cantabrigian |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/1609 |access-date=2024-11-30 |work=[[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]]}}</ref>

Physicist [[Lev Landau]] [[Lev Landau#Landau's ranking of physicists|ranked physicists on a logarithmic scale]] of productivity and genius ranging from 0 to 5. The highest ranking, 0, was assigned to Newton. Einstein was ranked 0.5. A rank of 1 was awarded to the fathers of [[quantum mechanics]], such as [[Werner Heisenberg]] and [[Paul Dirac]]. Landau, a Nobel prize winner and the discoverer of [[superfluidity]], ranked himself as 2.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mitra |first=Asoke |author-link=Asoke Nath Mitra |date=2006-11-01 |title=New Einsteins need positive environment, independent spirit |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/59/11/12/395831/New-Einsteins-need-positive-environment |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=59 |issue=11 |pages=12 |doi=10.1063/1.4797321 |bibcode=2006PhT....59k..12M |issn=0031-9228}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Elkhonon |author-link=Elkhonon Goldberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rr9EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-046649-7 |location=New York, NY |pages=166 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[SI derived unit]] of [[force]] is named the [[Newton (unit)|Newton]] in his honour.

=== Apple incident ===
{{Main|Isaac Newton's apple tree}}
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=Sapling of newton apple tree (cropped).jpg|image2=Newton's tree, Botanic Gardens, Cambridge (sign).jpg|image3=Newtons apple.jpg|width=220|caption3=Reputed descendants of Newton's apple tree at (from top to bottom): [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], the [[Cambridge University Botanic Garden]], and the [[Instituto Balseiro]] library garden in Argentina}}
Newton himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree.{{sfn|White|1997|p=86}}{{sfn|Numbers|2015|pp=48–56}} The story is believed to have passed into popular knowledge after being related by [[Catherine Barton]], Newton's niece, to [[Voltaire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Malament |first=David B. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780812695076/page/118 |title=Reading Natural Philosophy: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics |date=2002 |publisher=Open Court Publishing |isbn=978-0-8126-9507-6 |pages=118–119}}</ref> Voltaire then wrote in his ''Essay on Epic Poetry'' (1727), "Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Voltaire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0o5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA104 |title=An Essay upon the Civil Wars of France, extracted from curious Manuscripts and also upon the Epick Poetry of the European Nations, from Homer down to Milton |date=1727 |publisher=Samuel Jallasson |location=London, England |page=104}} From p. 104: 'In the like Manner ''Pythagoras'' ow'd the Invention of Musik to the noise of the Hammer of a Blacksmith. And thus in our Days Sir ''Isaak Newton'' walking in his Garden had the first Thought of his System of Gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a Tree.'</ref><ref>Voltaire (1786) heard the story of Newton and the apple tree from Newton's niece, Catherine Conduit (née Barton) (1679–1740): {{Cite book |last=Voltaire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKWTGHiZSm4C&pg=PA175 |title=Oeuvres completes de Voltaire |date=1786 |publisher=Jean-Jacques Tourneisen |volume=31 |location=Basel, Switzerland |page=175 |language=French |trans-title=The complete works of Voltaire |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709192112/https://books.google.com/books?id=NKWTGHiZSm4C&pg=PA175 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |url-status=live}} From p. 175: ''"Un jour en l'année 1666, ''Newton'' retiré à la campagne, et voyant tomber des fruits d'un arbre, à ce que m'a conté sa nièce, (Mme ''Conduit'') se laissa aller à une méditation profonde sur la cause qui entraine ainsi tous les corps dans une ligne, qui, si elle était prolongée, passerait à peu près par le centre de la terre."'' (One day in the year 1666 ''Newton'' withdrew to the country, and seeing the fruits of a tree fall, according to what his niece (Madame ''Conduit'') told me, he entered into a deep meditation on the cause that draws all bodies in a [straight] line, which, if it were extended, would pass very near to the center of the Earth.)</ref>

Although it has been said that the apple story is a myth and that he did not arrive at his theory of gravity at any single moment,<ref name="Berkun2010" /> acquaintances of Newton (such as [[William Stukeley]], whose manuscript account of 1752 has been made available by the Royal Society) do in fact confirm the incident, though not the apocryphal version that the apple actually hit Newton's head. Stukeley recorded in his ''Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life'' a conversation with Newton in Kensington on 15 April 1726:<ref name="Newton's apple: The real story" /><ref name="NP">{{Cite web |title=Revised Memoir of Newton (Normalized Version) |url=http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/OTHE00001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314064817/http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/OTHE00001 |archive-date=14 March 2017 |access-date=13 March 2017 |website=The Newton Project}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|we went into the garden, & drank thea under the shade of some appletrees, only he, & myself. amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. "why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground," thought he to him self: occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a comtemplative mood: "why should it not go sideways, or upwards? but constantly to the earths centre? assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. there must be a drawing power in matter. & the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earths center, not in any side of the earth. therefore dos this apple fall perpendicularly, or toward the center. if matter thus draws matter; it must be in proportion of its quantity. therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the apple."<!-- Please do not correct the spelling in this quotation, which is as per the cited source. -->}}

[[John Conduitt]], Newton's assistant at the Royal Mint and husband of Newton's niece, also described the event when he wrote about Newton's life:<ref name="Keynes Ms. 130.4:Conduitt's account of Newton's life at Cambridge" />

{{Blockquote|In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge to his mother in Lincolnshire. Whilst he was pensively meandering in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from a tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought. Why not as high as the Moon said he to himself & if so, that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a calculating what would be the effect of that supposition.}}
It is known from his notebooks that Newton was grappling in the late 1660s with the idea that terrestrial gravity extends, in an inverse-square proportion, to the Moon; however, it took him two decades to develop the full-fledged theory.<ref>I. Bernard Cohen and George E. Smith, eds. ''The Cambridge Companion to Newton'' (2002) p. 6</ref> The question was not whether gravity existed, but whether it extended far enough to hold the Moon in orbit. Newton demonstrated that if the force decreased with the inverse square of the distance, one could calculate the Moon's orbital period with good accuracy. He guessed the same force was responsible for other orbital motions, and hence named it "universal gravitation".

Various trees are claimed to be "the" apple tree described by Newton. For one, [[The King's School, Grantham]] claims that the tree was purchased by the school and transplated to the headmaster's garden years later. On the other hand, the staff at [[Woolsthorpe Manor]], now owned by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]], contend that the tree in their garden is the true one referenced by Newton. A descendant of the original tree<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mart́ínez |first=Alberto A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOTTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |title=Science Secrets: The Truth about Darwin's Finches, Einstein's Wife, and Other Myths |date=2011 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-4407-2 |location= |pages=69 |oclc=682895134}}</ref> can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there. The [[National Fruit Collection]] at [[Brogdale]] in Kent<ref name="Brogdale—Home of the National Fruit Collection" /> can supply grafts from their tree, which appears identical to [[Flower of Kent]], a coarse-fleshed cooking variety.<ref name="From the National Fruit Collection: Isaac Newton's Tree" />

=== Commemorations ===
[[File:Isaac Newton statue.jpg|thumb|upright|Newton statue on display at the [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]]]]
Newton's monument (1731) can be seen in [[Westminster Abbey]], at the north of the entrance to the choir against the choir screen, near his tomb. It was executed by the sculptor [[Michael Rysbrack]] (1694–1770) in white and grey marble with design by the architect [[William Kent]].<ref>'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p13: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966</ref> The monument features a figure of Newton reclining on top of a [[sarcophagus]], his right elbow resting on several of his great books and his left hand pointing to a scroll with a mathematical design. Above him is a pyramid and a celestial globe showing the signs of the Zodiac and the path of the comet of 1680. A relief panel depicts [[putti]] using instruments such as a telescope and prism.<ref name="wmabbey" />

From 1978 until 1988, an image of Newton designed by Harry Ecclestone appeared on Series D £1 banknotes issued by the [[Bank of England]] (the last £1 notes to be issued by the Bank of England). Newton was shown on the reverse of the notes holding a book and accompanied by a telescope, a prism and a map of the [[Solar System]].<ref name="bankofengland" />

A statue of Isaac Newton, looking at an apple at his feet, can be seen at the [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]]. A large bronze statue, ''[[Newton, after William Blake]]'', by [[Eduardo Paolozzi]], dated 1995 and inspired by [[William Blake|Blake]]'s [[Newton (Blake)|etching]], dominates the piazza of the [[British Library]] in London. A bronze statue of Newton was erected in 1858 in the centre of [[Grantham]] where he went to school, prominently standing in front of [[Grantham Guildhall]].

The still-surviving farmhouse at Woolsthorpe By Colsterworth is a Grade I [[listed building]] by [[Historic England]] through being his birthplace and "where he discovered gravity and developed his theories regarding the refraction of light".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{NHLE|num=1062362|desc=Woolsthorpe Manor House, Colsterworth|access-date=5 October 2021}}</ref>
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