Gravity Research Foundation - Monuments

Monuments

In the 1960s, stone monuments, apparently paid for by Babson to spread word about the Foundation, were placed on a number of college campuses. The monuments are inscribed with a variety of similar sayings, such as "It is to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when a semi-insulator is discovered in order to harness gravity as a free power and reduce airplane accidents." and "It is to remind students of the blessings forthcoming when science determines what gravity is, how it works, and how it may be controlled."

College that received monuments include:

• Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida
• Colby College in Waterville, Maine
• Eastern Baptist College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania
• Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia
• Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts
• Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York
• Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire
• Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont
• Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
• Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama
• University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida
• Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, notable for being the only Gravity Research Foundation monument that is not in the upright position, but has been placed on its back.

Hobart College's "H-Book" contains a description of the circumstances surrounding the placement of its Gravity Monument: "The location of the stone on campus was linked to a gift to the Colleges of 'gravity grant' stocks, now totaling more than $1 million, from Roger Babson, the founder of Babson College. The eccentric Babson was intrigued by the notion of anti-gravity and inclined to further scientific research in this area. The Colleges used these funds to help construct Rosenberg Hall in 1994. Two trees that shade the stone are said to be direct descendants of Newton’s famous apple tree."

The stone at Colby College was once in front of the Keyes Building on the main academic quadrangle but was moved to a more obscure location near the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center. Students would often knock it over in an ironic testament to gravity's power. At Tufts, the monument is the site of an "inauguration ceremony" for students who receive Ph.D.s in cosmology, in which a thesis advisor drops an apple on the student's head. The stone at Tufts has also been known to "disappear" at times, reappearing in odd locations, such as in front of the doors of Ballou Hall on graduation day.

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at Tufts University

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument outside Shrader Hall at Eastern Nazarene College

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at Emory University

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at the University of Tampa

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at Middlebury College

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at Wheaton College

• The Gravity Research Foundation monument at University of Tampa