We are taking great care of the seeds and are looking forward to planting them out in our arboretum where they will engage even more young people with our fascinating story.” Julia, who is leading the activity plan for Jodrell Bank’s Heritage Lottery Funded project First Light at Jodrell Bank, continues: “Being a part of this initiative is also a great way for us to build on our links with the National Trust and our unique partnerships with ASDC and other Science Centres and Museums.
The project has been made possible through a partnership with The UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres ( ASDC), the national charity that brings together the UK’s major science engagement organisations and The National Trust’s Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, the birthplace and family home of Sir Isaac Newton. Planting seeds from Newton’s apple tree is especially significant for us as apples are another thread in the unique heritage of the Jodrell Bank site, now connecting Sir Isaac Newton to Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of Jodrell Bank Observatory who first initiated the planting of the site’s extensive arboretum.” It connects perfectly with our mission to inspire the scientists of the future and it builds on our work here in the Centre’s gardens and community orchards, as well as on our major Heritage Lottery funded project First Light at Jodrell Bank. Julia Riley, Head of Education at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre has said: “This is a simply wonderful project and we’re delighted to be part of it. This unique and rare event is in celebration of the World's first UNESCO-backed International Science Centre and Science Museum Day this Thursday, 10 th November. Science centres and museums like at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, which is one of The University of Manchester’s Cultural Institutions, will now be able to grow their very own Newton's Apple Tree, sharing the science and stories with school children and the public. Today, seeds from that very same apple tree have been collected and are being sent to specially selected Science Centres and Science Museums all across the UK including Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre in Cheshire, the home of the world-famous, Grade 1 listed Lovell Telescope. This was in sharp distinction to the earlier methodologies of Aristotle and Aquinas, which had outlined separate methods for different disciplines.Sir Isaac Newton was famously sitting under an apple tree, when a falling apple inspired his revolutionary theories about gravity. Newton stated explicit principles of scientific methods that applied universally to all branches of science. He surpassed all the gains brought about by the great scientific minds of antiquity, producing a scheme of the universe which was more consistent, elegant and intuitive than any proposed before.
Newton single-handedly contributed more to the development of science than any other individual in history.
In 1687 he published his most acclaimed work, “Philosophiae, Naturalis, Principia Mathematica” (“Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”), which has been called the most influential book on physics. With his discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics, Newton developed the principles of modern physics. He was born on Januin Woolsthorpe, England. Isaac Newton was an established physicist and mathematician and was one of the great minds of the 17th century Scientific Revolution.