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ISAAC AND THE APPLE
Rick Wolfer (Junior)

One bright day, a few hundred years in the past, in an English garden, an apple fell. The reader will probably exclaim "so what!" and turn to the next article on this page in disgust. However, because of this rather unexciting incident the whole world was shaken, for it started a great mind to work. The story varies. Some accounts simply related that the apple fell. Others tell that it fell on a man's head with a resounding "thud" and after being "beaned" the fellow began to think.

Regardless of detail, it started a man thinking. That man was none other than Sir Isaac Newton, founder of modern mathematics and physics. Of course, a mere apple to two such great fields is nothing more than a structural curiosity, meant to be eaten, not pondered over. But out friend Isaac began to wonder, "Why did malus pumila fall? " The results of this little thought changed the world. Newton thereupon founded his laws of universal motion gravity which continuously expanded. Although some were incorrect, he started the world on an unending scientific craze, just because he was struck from above by a weak-stemmed apple.

From then on the "victim" founded the calculus, greatest of mathematical achievements. He attempted to explain gravity, discussed all forms of motion, etc. However, last of all, he started a very conservative and "content to rest on my laurels" world to ponder in terms of the word "why." After all of this and the acclamation which followed, one wonders if we shouldn't indirectly thank the apple, providing of course, the account is correct.

It makes a good story, and regardless of the cause, that man, so revered by his successors, accomplished something by mere suggestion that the world had been oblivious to for centuries. As for myself, I like success stories; and if the apple started a trend, then it deserves some credit, although I doubt if one will ever run across a variety called "Newton's Inspiration"

With permission of Student Prints.