Full transcript
0:03002 NEWTON'S APPLE
0:04There are two basic types of curiosity: the one that arises from being surprised by something (Wow!: how
0:09curious, how unique is this); and the one that encourages to investigate more deeply
0:14(Mmm!: how curious, what is behind this).
0:18This second type, the one that generates the desire to know more about an issue, the one that raises
0:22questions to deepen, has always been fundamental in the development of science.
0:28One of the most popular stories about the observation of a natural event that originated
0:32"science" is the one that links the fall of an apple with the theory of gravitation.
0:38The luck is that at that singular moment it turns out that Newton was there to observe it...
0:43There is no certainty that the story is true, although it was transmitted to the world through
0:48Voltaire, to whom it seems that Newton's niece, Catherine Barton, explained it. , which
0:53ruled the house of genius for years.
0:56Be that as it may, the fact that millions of people had seen apples fall before
1:01but one of them wondered why it was falling vertically downwards
1:07towards the center of the Earth, and not falling "up" or "towards the sides”, changed
1:13the history of the world.
1:15Well…
1:16it wasn't all that simple… and it took Newton himself more than 20 years to develop a
1:20well-constructed theory in which he proposed gravitation, and suggested that the falling
1:26apple and the rotation of the Moon around the Earth had the same same cause...
1:32thereby developing the first "unification" in the history of Physics.
1:35Asking good questions is essential for the development of science.
1:41But it is not enough to ask yourself a question and that's it...
1:43The value lies in persevering in the search for answers...
1:46As Katalin Karikó has done, whose obstinacy in following the mRNA model brought us a
1:54vaccine for covid19.
1:55Or as Jeremy Munday does now when wondering how to generate electricity in solar panels…
2:02at night!
2:04But let's not get confused...
2:05observing something and asking a question is not enough...
2:09you also have to be open so that answers flow from unexpected places...
2:13For example, Newton was a great mathematician, true, but he was also a great alchemist,
2:19interested in "magical" arts of the transmutation of matter...
2:24And it seems that this activity, to which he devoted a lot of time, allowed him to dare to propose
2:29a force of gravitation that acted at a distance, something opposed to the idea of
2:36the transmission of forces by pure contact between matter, which was the dominant idea
2:41in physics up to that time.
2:43This action at a distance of gravitation perhaps had its origin in the invisible forces
2:49that fascinated the alchemists... We
2:51have to observe, ask ourselves questions about what we see, and be open to solutions
2:56that come from the most unexpected places...