The current phrasing appears to have originated in the 1910 book Physics by Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss . The question `` When a tree falls in a lonely forest , and no animal is near by to hear it , does it make a sound ? Why ? '' is posed along with many other questions to quiz readers on the contents of the chapter , and as such , is posed from a purely physical point of view .

Question: who said if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it
Answer: Charles Riborg Mann