India, May 21 -- In the mid-1990s, renowned astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar sought to honour a foundational moment in the history of science by planting saplings grafted from the famous apple tree under which Sir Isaac Newton is said to have conceived the theory of gravity. These saplings were planted at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, where Narlikar served as founder-director.

Colleagues at IUCAA recalled that the institute's courtyard includes statues of great scientists such as Galileo, Einstein, Aryabhatta, and Newton. At the time, Newton's statue stood awkwardly beneath a sprawling banyan tree-an odd contrast to the apple tree associated with his legacy. To correct this, Narlikar arranged t...