Article ID: CBB998211009

The science of money: Isaac Newton's mastering of the Mint (2022)

unapi

This article uses the records at the Royal Mint to explore how Isaac Newton worked with metal beyond his alchemical and natural philosophical pursuits. It demonstrates how institutional paperwork can be used to think in new ways about the management of working resources as well as the relationship of material and mental practices across the linked urban worlds of state, science and finance. It reveals how Newton negotiated artisanal and administrative skills through a learned ‘practical objectivity’, unable to rely wholly upon his scientific reputation or mathematical ability when working with men and metals within a government department. Finally, it illuminates how Newton's activities at the Mint intersected and influenced a growing interest in the pursuit of scholarly antiquarianism as well as commercial geology, mining, metallurgy and metrology in the early eighteenth century.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB998211009/

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Authors & Contributors
Buehler, Scottie Hale
Aurélien Ruellet
Gasparetto, Michele
Emma Prevignano
Kerk, Martje aan de
Francesca Trivellato
Concepts
Money
Metrology
Economics
Metals and metallic compounds
Paperwork (Office practice)
Currency; coinage; monetary systems
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
Early modern
Renaissance
21st century
Places
London (England)
Great Britain
Paris (France)
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Italy
France
Institutions
Société Royale de Médecine
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