In a 1693 letter to theologian Richard Bentley, Isaac Newton expressed his discomfort with the idea that gravity could operate across empty space without anything carrying its influence from one object to another. He wrote that the idea of gravity being “innate, inherent, and essential to matter” was to him “so great an absurdity” that he believed no philosophically competent person could accept it. Newton was not calling gravity itself absurd, since his own theory had successfully described its effects mathematically. What troubled him was the possibility of action at a distance, the idea that one body could somehow influence another across empty space without any physical mechanism existing between them.
Framing Note: Frames are selected by the artist and are included primarily to protect the artwork during handling and transit. Collectors are welcome to reframe the artwork after receipt according to their personal preference.
Material: Mixed Metals
Imperial
Piece: 35" × 54"
Frame: 40" × 60"
Weight: 16.76 lbs
Metric
Piece: 88.9 × 137.2 cm
Frame: 101.6 × 152.4 cm
Weight: 7.60 kg
In a 1693 letter to theologian Richard Bentley, Isaac Newton expressed his discomfort with the idea that gravity could operate across empty space without anything carrying its influence from one object to another. He wrote that the idea of gravity being “innate, inherent, and essential to matter” was to him “so great an absurdity” that he believed no philosophically competent person could accept it. Newton was not calling gravity itself absurd, since his own theory had successfully described its effects mathematically. What troubled him was the possibility of action at a distance, the idea that one body could somehow influence another across empty space without any physical mechanism existing between them.
Framing Note: Frames are selected by the artist and are included primarily to protect the artwork during handling and transit. Collectors are welcome to reframe the artwork after receipt according to their personal preference.
Material: Mixed Metals
Imperial
Piece: 35" × 54"
Frame: 40" × 60"
Weight: 16.76 lbs
Metric
Piece: 88.9 × 137.2 cm
Frame: 101.6 × 152.4 cm
Weight: 7.60 kg
