In this Webinar, Robert Iliffe will discuss new findings about Newton’s three-decade career at the Mint that have emerged from the online edition of Newton’s financial and administrative papers. Robert places Newton’s time at the Mint in a number of different social and economic contexts (e.g. the ‘Glorious' and Financial revolutions) and looks at various aspects of his working life as Warden and then Master of the Mint (1696-99 and 1700-27). These include his management of Mint buildings and personnel; his economic assumptions; his role in designing new coins and medals; his knowledge of the various technologies involved in making money; and his prosecution of clippers and coiners. To end, Robert will discuss the ways in which the digital publication of these papers, especially when considered alongside his scientific, mathematical and religious writings, provides new insights into Newton’s general working habits.
Speaker:
Rob Iliffe is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and co-Director of The Newton Project. He has published a number of works on the history of science, particularly on the life and work of Newton, relations between science and religion, and voyages of scientific discovery. He is author of A Very Short Introduction to Newton (Oxford, 2007) and Priest of Nature: the Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton (Oxford, 2017), and is currently writing a history of attitudes to scientific creativity.
Date
Friday, 21 May 2021
Time
14:00 - 14:45 BST
Cost
Free
Share this event on social media: