In a state known for its bountiful trees, there is a new addition that carries a special provenance. A humble apple tree has found a new home at West Virginia University, and although it may not have the stately presence of the sugar maple or brilliant crimson leaves of the dogwood, its ancestry is the stuff of legend.

There was standing room only in the John D. Rockefeller IV Gallery in the Downtown Library today (April 22) as the University community gathered to dedicate the planting of the Newton apple tree, a direct descendent of the one that inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity.

The tree was awarded to retired Sen. Jay Rockefeller by the National Institute of Standards and Technology earlier this month in honor of his science policy leadership and his strong commitment during a 30-year career in the United States Senate.

Rockefeller has bestowed the tree upon WVU to inspire future generations to pursue scientific and technological discovery. It will grow in the center of campus on the grassy slope located between the library, the home of Rockefeller’s senatorial archives, and White Hall, the home to the Department of Physics and Astronomy and an active science-learning environment.

President Gordon Gee welcomed special guests to honor Rockefeller’s legacy, including Richard Cavanagh, acting associate director for laboratory programs and director of the Special Programs Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Paul Hill, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; Maja Husar Holmes, associate professor of public administration in the John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Master of Public Administration degree program; and Hannah Clipp, wildlife and fisheries undergraduate student and Udall and Goldwater Scholarship winner.

“This award means so much to me,” Rockefeller said last week at NIST upon receiving the Newton Award. “It is a living symbol of how important it is to study and understand the world around us.”

“Senator Rockefeller was a tireless public servant, and promoting scientific research was one of his lifelong passions,” said President Gee. “On behalf of West Virginia University, I thank Senator Rockefeller for this special gift and his continuing support.”

Cavanagh visited WVU’s forensic science program prior to the event and was delighted by the high-quality forensic science research and teaching, saying the program rivaled the facilities and programs at NIST.

He said that NIST was honored to present the tree to Rockefeller in Washington D.C. and hopes that it serves as a reminder to all of Rockefeller’s unwavering support of science policy, the major contributions he made and his service to the nation.

Both Cavanagh and Hill met with students from WVU’s Science Policy Club, who empower students to communicate the importance of science and research to lawmakers.

“As the Newton Tree descendant grows, it will see new generations of students on this campus grow as chemists, astronomers, engineers, forensic scientists and more,” Hill said. “Senator Rockefeller and WVU are sending a strong message that the intersection of science and policy is where West Virginia will thrive in the future.”

Rockefeller’s science policy legacy
Rockefeller spent his entire career in support of science and discovery, first as a college president at West Virginia Wesleyan, then as West Virginia’s governor and as U.S. senator and chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

His pursuit of legislative action to improve the country, especially in the realm of scientific research and innovation, is unparalleled in the halls of Congress.

“There can be absolutely no question that investing in science and technology, in innovation, and in educating our young people is critical to maintaining our nation’s global leadership,” Rockefeller said last week. “It is a national need.”

He was instrumental in securing a partnership between WVU and the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County to support continued operations in exchange for additional hours of research time on the telescope for faculty and students.

As a member and then chair of the Commerce Committee, Rockefeller championed the passage of the landmark America COMPETES Reauthorization Acts of 2007 and 2010, which Rockefeller said “planted the seeds of something very powerful.”

The legislation bolstered the nation’s long-term investment in research and development, improving cooperation between government and industry and stimulating innovation in every state.

Last week, Rockefeller said, “One of my proudest moments in the Senate – and one of my favorite stories to tell – was passing the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 with (Republicans) Kay Bailey Hutchison and Lamar Alexander. Democrats and Republicans supported it because they knew where the money was going and how crucial it was for our researchers and scientists to be the world’s best.”

Encompassed in America COMPETES are programs that have had real benefits for the state and WVU. Rockefeller has been an unrelenting advocate for the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, known as EPSCoR, which helps ensure that every state has strong scientific research capabilities and infrastructure.

In a Senate floor speech in 1999 he explained why he became involved in the program. “I believe that technology should be shared by everyone … [The] diversity in our national innovation infrastructure-research must be allowed to flower in Montana, Alaska, [and] West Virginia as well as the traditional centers of science,” he said.

For the state of West Virginia, that has translated into more than $130 million in research funding, including a $20 million grant – the largest-ever EPSCoR grant – which now supports WVU and other university researchers across the state as they work to remotely identify environmental pollutants and diseases.

Rockefeller also helped create the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, to attract top science, technology, engineering and mathematics students into teaching careers. The funding has produced more than 12,000 new STEM teachers nationwide, particularly in high-need areas. WVU won its first Noyce Scholarship grant in 2008.

In 2000 he said, “A well-educated, knowledge-based workforce is the most important resource in the New Economy. The only way to create this workforce is education.”

The COMPETES legislation also authorizes the NIST Manufacturing Extension Program, which works with small and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers to help them create and retain jobs, increase profits and operate more efficiently. WVU administers West Virginia’s program.

Rockefeller believes that supporting the work of scientists, researchers and teachers is so important because the benefits to our society and economy are so great and introduced the COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2014 before retiring from Congress.

He said, “If we are going to continue to build on these tremendous results, we need to choose to invest in science. And it is a choice. We need to continue to ensure the next world-changing innovation belongs to us.”

At its base, Rockefeller’s determination to secure federal funding for research and development and STEM education is about securing the future of the nation’s economy. He believes that scientific discovery is the cornerstone of our economic success and that investment in it gives life to innovation and ideas that will move the country forward and solve our most challenging problems.

His work in Congress provides a template of success for the continued funding for science and innovation in the U.S. and the results of his tireless efforts will continue to be felt for years to come in West Virginia and beyond.

The most famous apple tree
One of science’s most famous anecdotes – the apple hitting Sir Isaac Newton on the head – may not be entirely true, but the origins of the story trace their way back to Newton’s family home in northern England.

The apple tree, of the variety “Flower of Kent” did inspire Newton, as he told William Stukeley, a physician who wrote Newton’s memoirs. Stukeley wrote that upon seeing the apple fall, Newton wondered, “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground ? Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly toward the earth’s center?”

Stukeley continued the account, writing that Newton stated, “Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter.”

Thus, the seeds of Newton’s theory of gravity were planted.

The apple tree (Malus domestica) that Rockefeller gave to the University is a direct descendent of the original Newton tree, meaning it was raised from a cutting rather than from a seed.

Before the original tree died in a 19th-century storm, graft wood and cuttings were taken to propagate more trees. WVU’s Newton tree is a descendent of the tree that was planted at NIST’s original headquarters in Washington.

Upon the planting of NIST’s Newton tree, A.T. McPherson, the associate director at the time, said, “It is fitting that science students be made acquainted with the traditions of science as well as its frontiers.”

NIST has awarded just 15 Newton trees. The exact number and location of descendants is unknown as institutions and organizations have obtained cuttings from various sources and propagated their own trees.

WVU will now be one of only a handful of academic institutions of higher education in the U.S. to have a Newton tree. Other institutions include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, Stanford University, Washington State University, the University of Nebraska and the University of Wisconsin.

The approximately 5-year-old sapling planted at WVU is 6 feet tall and 2 inches in diameter. It may grow to a height of 20-25 feet. The tree could flower within five years.

It may be many years before the tree bears fruit – if at all – but West Virginia and the nation are already feasting on the fruits of Rockefeller’s tireless work on behalf of science, research and discovery.

By Marissa Sura
University Relations/News

-WVU-

ms/04/22/15

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