Thomas Levenson, MIT
Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiter: Greed, Crime and the Birth of the Modern Idea of Money
Argonne Physics Division Colloquium - 11 Mar 2011
11:00 AM, Building 203 auditorium

Isaac Newton's fame is such that it would seem that almost nothing remains to be discovered about him. But very little attention has been paid to the three decades Newton spent in charge of the Royal Mint, and especially to the first of those years, in which he supervised the remaking of England's entire silver money supply, all the while investigating, prosecuting, and executing the nation's currency criminals. That story provides unique perspectives on both Newton himself, and on the birth of the modern idea of money to be found in the links between contemporaneous revolutions in science and finance.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule