Welcome to Newton's Bruises

Newton's bruises is a place where individuals can go to find out more about challenging thinking in science and explore creative options which extend our understanding and knowledge of the  world around us. The principles underlying this are that we all have the potential to discover new and exciting things and this is built up by support and knowledge from others.

A popular story about the scientist Sir Isaac Newton relates the tale of him sitting under an apple tree deep in thought when an apple suddenly falls on his head, and then, in an instant he comes up with a universal law of gravitation. This, however, was probably not the case. We know that he was a persistent scientist who had a passion for what he did and tried to make sense of the world. It is more likely that the observation of the apple falling and his understanding of forces allowed him to link this action with unbalanced forces and the existence of a force that he called gravity.

But I wonder if the apple had fallen on his head, would he have got a bruise?: and what made him go on and use this experience in a different way from the many other people that it may have happened to?