(Image source from: Writings of Isaac Newton describe how trees defy gravity})
Newly unearthed writings from Newton's college days show Isaac Newton was equally adept at unlocking the mysteries of plants. During his days as an undergraduate student in the 1660s at Trinity College, Newton kept a notebook for some of his philosophical thoughts. One researcher who analyzed Newton's writings has uncovered a single passage titled "Vegetables" buried deep inside. In the passage, Newton offered an early explanation for how water and nutrients in plants - especially trees - seemingly defy gravity when they move from the roots to the leaves.
According to David Beerling, a professor of palaeoclimatology at the University of Sheffield in England and author of a paper describing the passage, Newton's description is remarkably accurate. People in the 17th Century knew that objects moved down - like water flowing downstream or rocks tumbling downhill. Somehow, trees were miraculously moving nutrients and fluid to tens and hundreds of feet in the opposite direction, up to the tips of their high-hanging branches.
Newton theorized that plants have fluid-filled pores in their leaves, Beerling writes in his Feb. 2 paper in the journal Nature Plants. Newton thought that when light shines on these pores, the light particles push water particles away from the plant, which then lets the tree move water and other nutrients up through its trunk to replace the lost water particles. How trees did this was a mystery until 1895 - more than 200 years after Newton wrote his "Vegetables" passage at Trinity College.
"Frustratingly, the context of Newton's notes on plant juices is unknown," Beerling wrote. "We have no idea how long Newton spent thinking about the working of plants of what prompted these thoughts. No other pages in the notebook report comments on plants," Beerling wrote in his paper."Reclusive and secretive, it's doubtful he gained botanical inspiration from conversations with others at Cambridge University interested in plants."
By Premji
