The story, which is the one thing everyone knows about Isaac Newton, may well be a myth.48 Despite his craving for privacy, Newton was acutely aware of his own legend, and he was not above adding a bit of gloss here and there. Historians who have scrutinized his private papers believe that his understanding of gravity dawned slowly, over several years, rather than in a flash of insight. He threw in the apple, some suspect, simply for color.
