William Stukeley

Remember the old story of Newton and the apple? Ever wonder where it came from? Now you can read the original, in William Stukeley’s Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life (1752). The Royal Society, the “world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence,” had made this manuscript (and others) available as part of their Turning the Pages project.

In Newton’s Life, Stukeley recounts one of the most famous stories in modern science:

After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank tea under the shade of some apple trees; only he and 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 himself; occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood. Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth’s center? 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 earth’s center, not in any side of the earth. Therefore does 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.
Thus by degrees, he began to apply this property of gravitation to the motion of the Earth, and of the heavenly bodies; to consider their distances, their magnitudes, their periodical revolutions: to find out, that this property, conjointly with a progressive motion impressed on them in the beginning, perfectly [soloed] their circular courses; kept the planets from falling upon one another, or dropping all together into one center. And thus he unfolded the universe. This was the birth of those amazing discoveries, whereby he built philosophy on a solid foundation, to the astonishment of Europe (page 16, 42 in the online version).

Sir Isaac Newton

Rather than being conked on the head by an apple while napping, Newton had been thinking in his garden, maybe while drinking tea. Granted, this work was originally published 25 years after Newton’s death, but Stukeley was a friend of Newton, and a fellow member of the Royal Society.

I have waited for this life to be done, as it deserves; and have not been overhasty in printing, what was wrote 27 years ago (page ii, 4 in the online version).

He began recording his memories of Newton before Newton’s death, and now they are available, in their original 18th century manuscript, for anyone with an Internet connection to read.  How fantastic to be able to read the actual account of this most famous story for yourself.

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Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you haven’t seen it, you should.

I finished The Pluto Files this weekend, the latest book by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, Tyson is also a fervent advocate for science and making science understandable to the public.

The Pluto Files tells the story of Pluto’s reclassification, from ninth planet to dwarf planet.  There’s the history of the discovery, along with difficulties involved in planetary discovery in general:

In an embarrassing example from January 1769, the French astronomer Pierre Charles Lemonnier did not discover Uranus six times.

That particular planet had been repeatedly classified as either a comet or a star.  It was not officially recognized as a planet until 1781. As for Pluto, astronomers were searching for a “Planet X” to explain the perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune (perturbations which later turned out to be the result of poor estimation of the masses of the other planets, and not an undiscovered outer planet).

Tyson’s book describes the remodeling of the planetarium and the decision to classify the solar system by groups of related objects, and what that meant for Pluto in the grand scheme of things.  The second half deals with the public fallout of that decision, from school children wondering where Pluto was in the display of the relative sizes of planets (and hundreds of crayon-illustrated letters to that effect), to other scientists who accused the planetarium administration of going against scientific consensus in grouping Pluto with other objects in the Kuiper belt.  That was until the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to clarify the definition of planet. Currently, a planet is defined as a celestial body that:

1. is in orbit around the Sun,
2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and
3. has “cleared the neighbourhood” around its orbit.

While Pluto has met the first two criteria, it has not met the third (hence the name Kuiper belt for the region of icy objects where Pluto resides). The funny thing is, we’ve been here before.  Ceres was declared a planet in 1801, and the number of planets in the solar system climbed to 23 as more were discovered.  We later learned that these objects were actually members of the asteroid belt, not planets at all.  Ceres didn’t have the cultural status of Pluto, though, and that’s what I found most interesting about The Pluto Files.

It’s a first hand account of how advances in scientific understanding can have a profound and direct impact on culture (and state legislatures).  Both New Mexico and California passed laws declaring Pluto a planet, though California’s bill is a bit tongue-in-cheek:

WHEREAS, Downgrading Pluto’s status will cause psychological harm to some Californians who question their place in the universe and worry about the instability of universal constants; and…

WHEREAS, The downgrading of Pluto reduces the number of planets available for legistive leaders to hide redistricting legislation and other inconvenient political reform measures….

What should have been celebrated as an advance in human understanding of the universe was instead decried as desecration of a universal constant (that didn’t actually exist).  And that is what makes people so uncomfortable.  Science can change to meet the presentation of new facts, and that’s a good thing.

The following is an conversation that Dr. Tyson participated in at the LA Public Library following the release of The Pluto Files. He’s an entertaining speaker with a wonderful sense of humor, and it’s interesting to hear his perspective on the controversy.

There’s been some good news on the teaching of evolution front this month. In Oklahoma, the “Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act” (Senate Bill 320 – rtf) failed to make it out of the Senate Education Committee.  This means it is effectively dead in the Senate for the next two years.  Good thing.  The bill stated, in part, that:

The Oklahoma Legislature finds that an important purpose of science education is to inform students about scientific evidence and to help students develop critical thinking skills they need in order to become intelligent, productive, and scientifically informed citizens.  The Legislature further finds that the teaching of some scientific subjects, such as biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning, can cause controversy, and that some teachers may be unsure of the expectations concerning how they should present information on such subjects.

In reality, there is no controversy among biologists.  Evolution exists; we can measure it.  Like many “Academic Freedom Acts,” it’s an attempt to sneak ID into science classrooms.  Sounds silly, but it worked in Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the Louisiana Science Education Act into law last summer.  Barbara Forrest posted a penetrating analysis of the bill on the Louisiana Coalition for Science blog.  And last week, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology announced they would no longer hold their annual meetings in New Orleans, noting:

The SICB leadership could not support New Orleans as out meeting venue because of the official position of the state in weakening science education and specifically attacking evolution in science curricula…SICB is joining other scientific organizations in suggesting professional societies reconsider any plans to host meetings in Louisiana.  As scientists, it is our responsibility to oppose anti-science initiatives….

Nice to know my home state is one up on Louisiana, but it bodes ill for the scientific education of the children of The Pelican State.

In keeping with the Year of Science theme, this month will focus on celebrating evolution.  To start, here’s first part of the HHMI Holiday Lecture Series from 2005: Evolution – constant change and common threads.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here’s a quick quiz to test your own knowledge of evolution.

On this Darwin Day, the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, On the Origin of Species, and with the election of our new President and his promise to restore science to its rightful place in informing policy, 2009 has been declared the Year of Science by COPUS, the Coalition of the Public Understanding of Science. The Year of Science is intended to be:

a national year-long celebration of science to engage the public in science and improve public understanding about how science works, why it matters, and who scientists are.

NPR did a short interview with one of the organizers of YoS, which you can listen to here.

Last night, the House and Senate agreed on a compromise stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides more than $15 billion investment in Science and Technology, including:

• $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, for basic research in fundamental science and engineering – which spurs discovery and innovation.
• $1.6 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences – areas crucial to our energy future.
• $400 million for the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to support high-risk, high-payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency in collaboration with industry.
• $580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including the Technology Innovation Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
• $8.5 billion for NIH, including expanding good jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, and heart disease.
• $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research.
• $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help them compete for biomedical research grants.

More posts on the Year of Science theme will follow.  Today, I am grateful that Congress saw past the limited view of a few Senators (Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME), in particular), who were working to gut science funding from the stimulus package, and realized that this funding is not only critical to advancing science and technology, but also our economy.

The bill is expected to be on the President’s desk by Monday.

I recently saw Senator Obama Goes to Africa, recorded in 2006 on his diplomatic mission to Kenya.  A couple of things struck me.  First, he’s not afraid to bring up sensitive and controversial subjects, whether it’s corruption in the Kenyan government or a dangerous health policy in South Africa.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Second, he leads by example.  HIV testing is almost a taboo subject in Africa, where in South Africa alone, 3.2 million women are living with HIV/AIDS, and an estimated 1.4 million children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. While on his visit to Kenya, he and his wife, Michelle, both took a public HIV test, to encourage Kenyans to know their status and take charge of their health.

I’m looking forward to a leader who has connections and concerns outside the US, who can reach out and build consensus with other nations, who can tackle the difficulties that face our country with intelligence and sensitivity, and who has a genuine care for the common people.  Change is coming, and not a moment too soon.

I ran across TED this morning. It looks like a wonderful resource, not only for online learning, but also for access to some of the best thinkers and innovators on the planet.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

What is exceptional about these talks is that the ideas are presented by the innovators themselves. I’ve only scratched the surface of the site, but I’ll be posting my favorites here.

First up is Jane Goodall, pioneering primatologist, who discovered chimpanzee tool use in the wild. She’s been an inspiration to generations of anthropologists, myself included.