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Life after Gravity

Isaac Newton's London Career

Patricia Fara author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:24th Feb '21

Should be back in stock very soon

Life after Gravity cover

The story of Isaac Newton's decades in London - as ambitious cosmopolitan gentleman, President of London's Royal Society, Master of the Mint, and investor in the slave trade. Isaac Newton is celebrated throughout the world as a great scientific genius who conceived the theory of gravity. But in his early fifties, he abandoned his life as a reclusive university scholar to spend three decades in London, a long period of metropolitan activity that is often overlooked. Enmeshed in Enlightenment politics and social affairs, Newton participated in the linked spheres of early science and imperialist capitalism. Instead of the quiet cloisters and dark libraries of Cambridge's all-male world, he now moved in fashionable London society, which was characterized by patronage relationships, sexual intrigues and ruthless ambition. Knighted by Queen Anne, and a close ally of influential Whig politicians, Newton occupied a powerful position as President of London's Royal Society. He also became Master of the Mint, responsible for the nation's money at a time of financial crisis, and himself making and losing small fortunes on the stock market. A major investor in the East India Company, Newton benefited from the global trading networks that relied on selling African captives to wealthy plantation owners in the Americas, and was responsible for monitoring the import of African gold to be melted down for English guineas. Patricia Fara reveals Newton's life as a cosmopolitan gentleman by focussing on a Hogarth painting of an elite Hanoverian drawing room. Gazing down from the mantelpiece, a bust of Newton looms over an aristocratic audience watching their children perform a play about European colonialism and the search for gold. Packed with Newtonian imagery, this conversation piece depicts the privileged, exploitative life in which this eminent Enlightenment figure engaged, an uncomfortable side of Newton's life with which we are much less familiar.

Anyone interested in a detailed account of the later part of Newton's life, focusing on its social, political, and moral dimensions, will find this an especially illuminating book. * J W Dauben *
Fara's story is full of colour... she is not just writing about Newton, she is painting a portrait of the age in which he lived, worked, schmoozed and manoeuvred... she also writes with an elegance and a wit you don't generally associate with history books. * Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail *
Science is always part of society, as Fara entertainingly shows. * BBC History Magazine *
... fresh, fascinating study of his [Newton's] London career. * Andrew Robinson, Nature *
... a highly unorthodox and groundbreaking book... revealing and beautifully written... * Vitali Vitaliev, E&T Magazine *
Fara is a pleasingly lively historical guide... the sheer energy of the book shines through, giving readers a messier and more thornily human Newton than the cartoon renditions to which he's so often reduced. * Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor *
... impressively broad and multifaceted, making for an interesting, penetrating slice of history, personal and generally. * M A Orthofer, Complete Review *
The rich historical background provided... is to be welcomed... this is an excellent account of Newton in London. * Brad Baxter, British Numismatic Journal *

ISBN: 9780198841029

Dimensions: 224mm x 143mm x 28mm

Weight: 424g

288 pages