Well today happens to be Sir Isaac Newton’s b’day! Yeah the one on whom, legend says that, an apple has fallen and yuppie gravity was discovered! First check out this cool Google Doodle commemorating 4th Jan 2010 as Newton’s B’day.
Actually this is the first time that I noticed that Google Doodle has come up with a non-static design. I mean, as soon as you open google.com, this delicious doodle comes up and an apple literally falls off the branch on the screen!Please let me know if there have been any past instances of such non static Google Doodles. Loved it!
Anyway, coming back to the point. The reason why I have mentioned this is, incidentally it was only today (before I actually realized about the B’day thing) that I have read an interesting account that connects Newton – Apple – Gravity – Name – Marketing. Courtesy the book: The Big Moo by Seth Godin. It was both informative and intriguing. This short write up in this book that I am referring to is called as “Isaac Newton’s Head”. Below is the copy of this chapter from the book. Read it, it makes an interesting read:
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ISAAC NEWTON’S HEAD
Ask any elementary-school kid about Isaac Newton and you’ll hear the same answer: “He invented gravity!”
Of course, Newton did no such thing. Newton certainly invented calculus. He also invented the reflecting telescope. He did not invent the Fig Newton, though. That was Charles M. Roser.
Newton gets credit for inventing gravity because of a tree in his backyard. He was sitting in his garden, thinking about the moon, when he looked up and noticed that an apple on the tree nearby was precisely the same size (to his eye) as the moon. As an object gets farther away, it appears to be smaller. In a flash, Newton realized that the apple was proportional to the moon in size, and the effect of “gravitas” on each must be proportional as well. Newton had figured out that gravity decreased over distance. More important to his reputation, he gave gravity its name. The apple never actually hit him on his head, but the term “gravity” stuck.
While Newton spent far more time on calculus and on alchemy, he’s known for discovering gravity. Why?
Because he named it.
To the average person, Newton’s contribution to science was a word. A word that described something that was already there, something that affected everyone, all the time. By naming gravity, he gave us power over it. He gave us a handle, which permitted both scientists and laypeople to talk about and interact with this mysterious force.
Organizations change when you give something a name. If it has a name, your peers can measure it. If it has a name, they can alter it. If it has a name, they can talk about it. And if it has a name, they can eliminate it.
Go ahead, name something. (Watch your head!)
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What say? And yeah another trivia that I came across today. Sir Isaac Newton predicted the end of the world, and it isn’t 2012, it is 2060. He came up with this date through Biblical interpretation. (Source: This Article)
Long Live Newton! Long live the power of names around us!!
Riffs on technology, marketing & culture 