Gravity

 

At the Library, we periodically set up a ‘thematic display’ where books and documents belonging to our heritage related to a theme or anniversary are exhibited. For the month of January 2026, we have chosen gravity.

An apple falls from a tree. A natural movement that does not surprise us, but in the 17th century, observing that apple fall perpendicularly to the ground and not upwards or in other directions led Isaac Newton to understand the existence of a force of attraction between two bodies.
In previous centuries, starting with Aristotle, philosophers and scientists had already been questioning gravity. Aristotle believed that objects had a “natural place” towards which they tended: heavy bodies fell downwards because the Earth was their natural centre, while light bodies tended upwards. Galileo Galilei demonstrated that bodies in free fall accelerate and that their speed does not depend on weight (neglecting friction), but on time, refuting Aristotle's theory.
Newton unified these ideas, formulating the Law of Universal Gravitation, which described gravity as a force acting between masses, linking the fall of an apple to the movement of the planets.
While for Newton gravity was a force, for Einstein it became a distortion of space-time, and even today the laws governing gravity are still being researched.

edited by Serena Musante and Roberta Scordamaglia - CAeB

The list of books that were displayed in the thematic showcase:

 

 

 

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