August 22, 2009
Newton and the Counterfeiter
From The Telegraph:
The word 'sinecure’ literally means 'without care’, and by the late 17th century it was already being used for a job with a salary but no real duties. So when Isaac Newton received a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1696, offering him the post of Warden of the Mint, he had every reason to think that a sinecure was being dangled in front of him: the salary was £400 a year (four times his pay as a Cambridge professor), and the Chancellor assured him that the work could all be done in his spare time.
Newton accepted, and within a week he had moved out of Cambridge to take up residence in the Tower of London. Perhaps he was looking forward to a life 'without care’, to be devoted to the study of mathematics, physics and his other intellectual passions: alchemy and Biblical interpretation. If so, he was in for a shock when he discovered the scale of the task that awaited him.
More here.
Posted by Azra Raza at 07:54 PM | Permalink
Comments
Neal Stephenson wrote this very engaging series of books called The Baroque Cycle in which a highly detailed Newton, and his exploits at the mint, played a major role—These are obliquely a prequel to his earlier Cryptomonicon. Loved the books but was disturbed at how much fiction was (possibly) being injected into my image of Newton.
This book seems like a good antidote, or even a test of Neal's scholarship. His blurbview below:
Anathem was really, really, good also.
Posted by: Carlos | Aug 22, 2009 8:51:04 PM
I knew we must agree on something Carlos! Anathem was excellent, engaging reading. Highly recommended to anyone who is looking for a last minute summer read that will last them for a few days.
The Baroque Cycle cycle was a struggle for me. I enjoyed parts of it, but I think the gapping holes in my historical knowledge of the period rent much of the enjoyment of reading them asunder. Never made it to the third book. I'm planning on trying them again with some appropriate history books as aides sometime in the future. If you have any suggestions for such, I'm all ears.
Posted by: Cyrus Hall | Aug 23, 2009 4:40:13 AM
I did some digging to see if Neal revealed any of his specific source material. Couldn't find any references. So many large themes: the Longitude, birth of science & the Royal Academy, Hooke, global politics, pirates, the calculus, Liebniz, mercury, alchemy, world trade, economics, the mint, the plague, MWHBHOTHAB, London, Pope…where to begin?
Posted by: Carlos | Aug 23, 2009 2:30:39 PM
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