Newton discovered that gravity had something to do with apples? We have been cheated for more than 300 years. What is the truth?

If we say the story of Newton and Apple, I think everyone will be familiar with it. It is said that around 1666, Newton was thinking about physical problems under an apple tree when he was suddenly hit on the head by a ripe apple. So Newton was thinking: Why does this apple only fall down and not up? Thus, Newton discovered the existence of "gravity". In fact, this seemingly beautiful story has deceived us for more than 300 years, and the truth is irritating.

So first of all, the question is, what is the purpose of this story? In fact, Newton discovered gravity not because he saw an apple fall, but because he was inspired by a letter from British naturalist robert hooke. Originally, in 167 1 year, robert hooke published a paper entitled "On the Annual Movement of the Earth". In this paper, he put forward the hypothesis that celestial bodies attract each other and provided Newton with a calculation formula.

Newton got a treasure after receiving this letter, so he began to study "gravity" according to the other party's calculation formula. Finally, Newton discovered Newton's third law and the law of universal gravitation with Galileo's scientific theory and his own calculus, and wrote his research results into the book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

After the publication of the law of gravity, Newton instantly became a red man in the scientific community. Hook felt very unbalanced, so he wrote to Newton and asked him to mention his name in the preface of the book, but Newton sternly refused. Later, the relationship between the two deteriorated and communication was cut off. In order to cover up Hooke's inspiration to his thoughts, in A.D. 17 17, Newton made up a story of "the apple fell to the ground" in a letter to a French writer, but this letter was not made public before Newton died.

In A.D. 1727, Voltaire, a famous writer, cited the apple tree and Newton as examples for dialectical discussion, so this story spread widely and finally formed this version we heard. In this way, in order to cover up the inspiration given to him by others, Newton fabricated the story of "the apple fell to the ground" to cover up his guilty conscience, while robert hooke, who really helped him discover the law of gravity, was submerged in the torrent of history, which was really regrettable.