Newton’s apple tree is famously associated with the story of Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity. According to popular accounts, in 1665 or 1666, while Newton was at his family home in Woolsthorpe Manor during the Great Plague, he observed an apple falling from a tree. This incident is said to have inspired his formulation of the theory of gravity, leading to the revolutionary work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica published in 1687.

The tree in question, believed to be a Flower of Kent variety (a type of apple primarily used for cooking), still stands today at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, England. Though it has faced challenges like age and storms, parts of the original tree have survived, and its legacy lives on through saplings propagated and planted around the world. This tree has become a symbol of scientific curiosity and discovery.