What is Gravity?
The Supermassive Podcast
Izzie Clarke
4.6 • 556 Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode is a weighty one. Some might say massive. It’s all about gravity. What is it? Why does it matter? Izzie and Dr Becky explore Einstein and Newton’s different ideas on the subject, plus Izzie visits the Royal Society to see Isaac Newton's original manuscript for his works on gravity and the laws of motion.
Special thank you to listener Hanna_m_e for suggesting this episode topic and to Professor Tessa Baker, at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, and to Keith Moore, head of collections at the Royal Society for appearing on the show.
See THAT coffee table here: https://youtu.be/5XlTkGEO564?si=9Z8KwTqOPk-Sf0xM
If you have a question for the team, or an episode suggestion, send them to podcast@ras.ac.uk or find us on Instagram, @SupermassivePod.
The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production in partnership with the Royal Astronomical Society. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a big topic. |
| 0:03.0 | Essentially, you're stealing energy from planets for our own personal gain. |
| 0:08.0 | What if there is no dark manner? What if there is no dark energy? |
| 0:10.0 | What if we're just applying the wrong laws of gravity? |
| 0:18.0 | Hello and welcome to the Supermassive podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society with me, |
| 0:23.6 | science journalist Izzy Clark and astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smethurst. |
| 0:27.6 | You could say, Izzy, that this episode is going to be a weighty one. |
| 0:33.2 | Some might say it's massive. |
| 0:36.1 | Because it's all about gravity. |
| 0:38.9 | What is gravity? |
| 0:40.1 | Why does it matter? |
| 0:41.5 | And we'll explore Einstein and Newton's different laws on the subject as well. |
| 0:46.1 | A special thank you to listener, |
| 0:47.5 | Hannah underscore M underscore E for suggesting this. |
| 0:50.5 | Yes, it's a good one. |
| 0:51.8 | I can't believe we haven't done it yet. |
| 0:53.2 | I feel like we say that about so |
| 0:54.6 | many of like the fundamentals. Like, why haven't we done that yet? Yeah, because also without |
| 0:59.7 | Hannah's recommendation, I would not have gone to the Royal Society for our second interview. And I |
| 1:04.9 | would not have seen so much of Isaac Newton's work. Oh, jealous. Oh my God. I had this amazing afternoon. |
| 1:11.8 | So you will hear that and my over-excitement later in the show. |
| 1:16.9 | You see, this is when I'm like, why am I an astrophisist that a science journalist? |
... |
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