The Apple Tree of Cambridge

A little while ago, I was watching "Return of the King," when I was struck by a little inspiration, so I went and drew this- 

Excuse the quality, I don't have a working scanner right now. Anyway, it is the White Tree of Gondor: 

But with apples instead of stars. It is meant to represent the famous apple tree that dropped a fruit onto Isaac Newton's head and gave him his great epiphany about gravity-the Apple Tree of Cambridge. Gravity is sort of curious-it seems very straightforward, but in fact it is perhaps the least understood of all the fundamental forces. Currently the best theory of gravity, Einstein's general relativity, breaks down at the quantum level. There is a total disconnect between the physics of the very small and gravity. All of the other fundamental forces have particles (quanta) behind them-electromagnetism has the photon, the strong nuclear force has the gluon, and the weak nuclear force has the Z and W Bosons. But not gravity. An experimentally verifiable theory that links gravity to quantum mechanics is perhaps the most hotly pursued issue in physics today.

I wonder what Newton would think if he could see all of the work that is going on today to master his theories, more than three hundred years after their inception. Isaac Newton was no doubt one of the greatest, if not the greatest, thinkers in history. The fact that the best minds in the world are still working at improving his theories really puts the human race in perspective to me, and serves as a reminder that the universe is both incredibly mysterious and endlessly fascinating.