[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 72 (Thursday, May 2, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE NEWTON APPLE TREE PLANTED AT BILLY EARL DADE 
                             MIDDLE SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 2, 2019

  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, as the Chairwoman of the House 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I am proud to have the 
opportunity to donate a direct descendant of the apple tree that 
inspired Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity to Billy Earl Dade Middle 
School in honor of Arbor Day 2019. In the past several years, Billy 
Earl Dade Middle School has become a national example of how strong 
campus leadership and the surrounding community can vastly improve the 
quality of education and experience offered to students.
  I'd like to thank the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
for making this donation possible by providing a sapling from their 
Newton apple tree in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
  In the mid-17th century, while on leave from Cambridge University, 
Isaac Newton was sitting beneath a tree when he saw an apple fall to 
the ground. This moment captured his curiosity, and he began to wonder 
if the same force that drew the apple towards the center of the earth 
similarly affected the moon and the planets. It was that day that 
inspired Newton to begin development of his law of universal 
gravitation. Nearly three and a half centuries later, scientists are 
still trying to understand gravity.
  Just as the ancestor of this tree inspired Sir Isaac Newton, who went 
on to formulate his laws of motion and become one of the most esteemed 
and influential scientists of all time, I hope this apple tree inspires 
the students, faculty, and mentors that attend and visit Billy Earl 
Dade Middle School to continue acting as role models in the community 
and to pursue new ideas in science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics.