A piece of the apple tree that led Sir Isaac Newton to theorise on the law of gravity 350 years ago is set to take a flight on a NASA space shuttle with British astronaut Piers Sellers. Sellers is flying with the wood for the Royal Society of London.
Sellers said: "Written on it in very old 18th century lettering is I-S-dot-Newton. He had a very nice hand. So I think it is his tree." The Royal Society of London is celebrating 350 years this year.
Part of the celebrations include displays which show Newton´s account of the apple tree incident which made Newton question, "Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground... Why should it not go sideways, or upwards?"
