Newton as Civil Servant

Abstract

IN 1696, when he was fifty-three years of age, Newton was appointed warden of the Mint, and in 1699 he was promoted to the master's place, which he held to the date of his death. The last thirty-one years of his life were thus passed in a public service which, if not as a whole arduous, yet occupied much of his time and was, on occasion, vexatious and exacting. So much can be found in any biography, but hitherto there has been no detailed account of this aspect of the great man's life, nor, indeed, are the necessary sources within reach of all.

Newton at the Mint

By Sir John Craig. Pp. viii + 128 + 4 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1946.) 7s. 6d. net.