In 1665, the Great Plague forced Cambridge University to close its doors. A twenty-two-year-old student named Isaac Newton retreated to his childhood home, a limestone farmhouse called Woolsthorpe Manor, about 100 kilometres north of Cambridge. For the next eighteen months, he worked in near-total solitude while his mother managed the farm. During this period, now known as his 'Annus Mirabilis' or year of wonders, Newton quietly laid the foundations for his revolutionary work on calculus, optics, and motion. In the quiet of his old bedroom, he performed experiments with prisms, bending light and uncovering the secrets of the rainbow. But his greatest insight was waiting for him just outside, in the orchard.
Isaac Newton and Gravity
In 1666, Isaac Newton saw an apple fall and realized the same force holding the Moon in orbit was pulling the object to the ground.
Chapter 1
A Year of Wonders
0:45
Frequently Asked Questions
Did an apple really fall on Isaac Newton's head?
There is no contemporary evidence that an apple struck Newton on the head. However, his friend William Stukeley wrote that Newton himself said the sight of a falling apple 'occasioned' his contemplation on the nature of gravity.
What are Newton's three laws of motion in simple terms?
The first law is inertia: an object stays at rest or in motion unless a force acts on it. The second is that an object's acceleration depends on its mass and the force applied (F=ma). The third is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Why was Newton's book 'Principia' so important?
Published in 1687, the 'Principia' established the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. For the first time, it proved that the same rules of nature apply everywhere, explaining why apples fall and planets orbit the Sun with a single mathematical theory.
Learn more
To continue the story, download the Chunks Microlearning app
Or get it straight away:
Download on iOS
Download on Android