Did Newton Discover Gravity? | Scientific Article

 

Newton

We take our feet off the ground and jump, we are surprised in the air for a moment and suddenly, we return to the earth as if we belonged to it. What is it that attracts us so much? The gravity! A concept that, although simple, a priori hides a dark story about one of our great references in science, Newton and another not so well known by all, Hooke.

Measuring that force that binds us to the Earth and that prevents us from levitating from one place to another is an extremely complicated job. In August of this same year, some scientists published the latest advances in precisely determining this constant in prestigious journals such as Nature.

Image: Jump

Everyone knows the story of the apple that fell on Newton's head and from which this transcendental theory arose. However, scientific historians indicate that the veracity of these facts is not so. Looking for the " gossip " (gossip) I will comment that it was Newton's niece, Katharine Barton, who told this story to none other than Voltaire. The anecdote, curious and interesting, was credible since the existence of the apple tree was true.

However, as stated by Federico Di Trocchio in his book "The Lies of Science", Newton probably stole this idea from Robert Hooke, who in all his innocence had told him.

There are letters in which Hooke is telling Newton the structure of the universal law of gravitation and asking for his help with the calculations. History has wanted to separate this scientist from the theory of gravity, leaving everything in the hands of an apple. But scientific discoveries are made by people, with their faults and their virtues, and reaching a conclusion as momentous as the one Hooke arrived at and the one Newton developed requires more than just low-hanging fruit.