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Newton and the Counterfeiter
Thomas Levenson describes the battle of wits between Isaac Newton, Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, and William Chaloner, the most skilful counterfeiter of the age.
318 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2009
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2356 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Levenson
16 books59 followersMy day job has me professing science writing at MIT, where I teach in the Institute's Graduate Program in Science Writing.
I continue to do what I did before I joined the professoriat: write books (and the occasional article), and make documentary films about science, its history, and its interaction with the broader culture in which scientific lives and discoveries unfold.
Besides writing, film making and generally being dour about the daily news, I lead an almost entirely conventional life in one of Boston's inner suburbs with a family that gives me great joy.
I continue to do what I did before I joined the professoriat: write books (and the occasional article), and make documentary films about science, its history, and its interaction with the broader culture in which scientific lives and discoveries unfold.
Besides writing, film making and generally being dour about the daily news, I lead an almost entirely conventional life in one of Boston's inner suburbs with a family that gives me great joy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 264 reviews
November 13, 2019
Newton and the Counterfeiter is a quick but interesting read about two misconceptions that we hold about Newton: that there was no apple, and that his Principia was written early in his life - what happened later? Well, he became the Warden of the British Mint and battled successfully with a particularly wily counterfeiter which forms the center of this book. I think I need to read a different biography of Newton because this book sketches him but does not fill him in, but this particular narrative which reads like a decent detective story was still entertaining and worth reading.
December 22, 2011
This book starts with an extended thumbnail sketch of Newton and his Natural Philosophy. This is done quite well – though, if that is what you are after perhaps a better book is Isaac Newton.
This one runs through his three laws (things will keep moving unless you stop them, the force you use to stop them equals their mass multiplied by their acceleration and whatever shove you give something it shoves back at you with the same force). He briefly explains the calculus. He spends lots of time talking about Newton’s obsession with alchemy. Says very little about his Optics. And of course, spends lots of time on Newton’s wacky experiments on himself.
That Newton was a great hater is also something brought to the fore here – and something that is quite important to the story this book is ostensibly about – as, ironically enough, is Newton’s obsession with alchemy and Biblical history.
The alchemy is particularly important. Newton wanted to learn how to turn base metals into gold. He saw this as being a proof of the existence of God and therefore something that was at least as important as his laws of motion in exposing to those deserving few the workings of the mind of God. But where Newton ultimately failed, there were at the time people who were quite literally turning base metals into gold – melting down coins made of precious metals and recasting them with mixtures cheaper metals added. Alchemy’s dream had come ‘true’ and as the author speculates, this might have been part of the reason why Newton, as the guy in charge of the Royal Mint, was quite so diligent in his pursuing counterfeiters. His obsession with alchemy and his belief in the near divine right of Kings, also debased with the debasing of the currency.
But Newton is only the best known of the two main characters of this book. The other is William Chaloner – a man who was, if nothing else, very amusing. His audacity is breathtaking. You know, if you are a counterfeiter then printing a book on how to counterfeit currency probably isn’t the most obvious thing to do. And if you get into trouble with the Royal Mint, perhaps drawing attention to how corrupt the Royal Mint also isn’t the most obvious means of getting out of trouble – that both proved remarkably effective shows just how far you can go with a little luck and a massive doze of self-confidence.
As I said, Newton was a great hater and being fooled by Chaloner a couple of times was enough to ensure no stone would be left unturned to bring Chaloner down. You know, Newton is the guy who is famous for the quote, “If I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants” – which was actually meant, not as a statement of modesty as it might sound, but rather as a dig at one of his endless list of enemies who just happened to be particularly short.
Much of this book details Newton’s efforts to have Chaloner hanged for his efforts as a counterfeiter – if not also for Chaloner having made a fool Newton.
I didn’t remember (or perhaps never knew) that Newton lost lots of money in the South Sea Bubble, as the writer explains (with all the benefit of hindsight) the maths that ought to have convinced Newton he was about to blow lots of his money was precisely the kind of maths he had put to such remarkable use in turning the heavens from dark confusion to transparent clarity for us. But the lesson is that greed makes fools of us all. Standing at the wrong end of yet another bubble – and one we seem determined not to learn any lessons from – we are hardly in any position to feel smug at Newton’s foolishness.
The most interesting parts of this book for me were the bits about trimming coins – I knew about this before, but what had never been made clear to me was just how much people had trimmed off. The point was to make money by trimming off some of the gold but not so much that you were not able to still pass them off as being full weight. This is often used as an example to explain why we ended up with paper (that is, valueless) money. But I thought maybe only say 5% had been trimmed – examples are given of surveys of the weights of coins being made at the time and them finding that up to half of the weight of gold overall on the coins sampled having been trimmed from them.
The other really interesting thing is about the price of silver. England was finding itself constantly short of silver coins – the reason was that silver was more valuable across the channel in France and so people were melting down English coins, sending it down the Thames and bringing back bars of French gold.
The last thing I want to mention is that I hadn’t ever really realised that Newton lived at the time of the transition between James II and King Billy and that he was quite so involved in supporting King Billy. Now, you would think that a Belfast boy would have noticed that before.
This is an interesting wee book about chapters of Newton’s life that are generally passed over either in silence or very briefly in other biographies. Given that it is impossible to be considered properly educated without having some knowledge of Newton and Newtonian Physics (I’ve given you his three laws of motion above and in order) there could be worse ways to find out about these topics than this book – but as I said, Gleik offers a slightly better way to find out about Newton if you are more interested in the science.
This one runs through his three laws (things will keep moving unless you stop them, the force you use to stop them equals their mass multiplied by their acceleration and whatever shove you give something it shoves back at you with the same force). He briefly explains the calculus. He spends lots of time talking about Newton’s obsession with alchemy. Says very little about his Optics. And of course, spends lots of time on Newton’s wacky experiments on himself.
That Newton was a great hater is also something brought to the fore here – and something that is quite important to the story this book is ostensibly about – as, ironically enough, is Newton’s obsession with alchemy and Biblical history.
The alchemy is particularly important. Newton wanted to learn how to turn base metals into gold. He saw this as being a proof of the existence of God and therefore something that was at least as important as his laws of motion in exposing to those deserving few the workings of the mind of God. But where Newton ultimately failed, there were at the time people who were quite literally turning base metals into gold – melting down coins made of precious metals and recasting them with mixtures cheaper metals added. Alchemy’s dream had come ‘true’ and as the author speculates, this might have been part of the reason why Newton, as the guy in charge of the Royal Mint, was quite so diligent in his pursuing counterfeiters. His obsession with alchemy and his belief in the near divine right of Kings, also debased with the debasing of the currency.
But Newton is only the best known of the two main characters of this book. The other is William Chaloner – a man who was, if nothing else, very amusing. His audacity is breathtaking. You know, if you are a counterfeiter then printing a book on how to counterfeit currency probably isn’t the most obvious thing to do. And if you get into trouble with the Royal Mint, perhaps drawing attention to how corrupt the Royal Mint also isn’t the most obvious means of getting out of trouble – that both proved remarkably effective shows just how far you can go with a little luck and a massive doze of self-confidence.
As I said, Newton was a great hater and being fooled by Chaloner a couple of times was enough to ensure no stone would be left unturned to bring Chaloner down. You know, Newton is the guy who is famous for the quote, “If I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants” – which was actually meant, not as a statement of modesty as it might sound, but rather as a dig at one of his endless list of enemies who just happened to be particularly short.
Much of this book details Newton’s efforts to have Chaloner hanged for his efforts as a counterfeiter – if not also for Chaloner having made a fool Newton.
I didn’t remember (or perhaps never knew) that Newton lost lots of money in the South Sea Bubble, as the writer explains (with all the benefit of hindsight) the maths that ought to have convinced Newton he was about to blow lots of his money was precisely the kind of maths he had put to such remarkable use in turning the heavens from dark confusion to transparent clarity for us. But the lesson is that greed makes fools of us all. Standing at the wrong end of yet another bubble – and one we seem determined not to learn any lessons from – we are hardly in any position to feel smug at Newton’s foolishness.
The most interesting parts of this book for me were the bits about trimming coins – I knew about this before, but what had never been made clear to me was just how much people had trimmed off. The point was to make money by trimming off some of the gold but not so much that you were not able to still pass them off as being full weight. This is often used as an example to explain why we ended up with paper (that is, valueless) money. But I thought maybe only say 5% had been trimmed – examples are given of surveys of the weights of coins being made at the time and them finding that up to half of the weight of gold overall on the coins sampled having been trimmed from them.
The other really interesting thing is about the price of silver. England was finding itself constantly short of silver coins – the reason was that silver was more valuable across the channel in France and so people were melting down English coins, sending it down the Thames and bringing back bars of French gold.
The last thing I want to mention is that I hadn’t ever really realised that Newton lived at the time of the transition between James II and King Billy and that he was quite so involved in supporting King Billy. Now, you would think that a Belfast boy would have noticed that before.
This is an interesting wee book about chapters of Newton’s life that are generally passed over either in silence or very briefly in other biographies. Given that it is impossible to be considered properly educated without having some knowledge of Newton and Newtonian Physics (I’ve given you his three laws of motion above and in order) there could be worse ways to find out about these topics than this book – but as I said, Gleik offers a slightly better way to find out about Newton if you are more interested in the science.
September 12, 2022
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
by Thomas Levenson
This is a terrific and informative book about a great man of science in a field I wouldn't have guessed him to be in but like every thing else he did, he did it brilliantly! It starts with his early life that wasn't a cheerful one at all. He leaves to go away to school at 14 and never returns. He just keeps making remarkable progress but that makes enemies and those that admire his work.
He is eventually offered a job to protect the Mint. Due to all the counterfeiters of the times, this was a real issue. How the government was dealing with the problem was almost as bad. Newton didn't want the job. The pay was excellent and he couldn't say no.
There was a certain counterfeiter that was Newton's arch enemy, in a matter of speaking. They battled each other for years!
This book was wonderful in giving the reader a look at what life was like during that period and what counterfeiters were doing and how it effected everyday life. It also gave us a look at what Newton was like, a more personal, up close, look.
I enjoy history books that makes me feel like I am there and this one does! Highly recommend!
by Thomas Levenson
This is a terrific and informative book about a great man of science in a field I wouldn't have guessed him to be in but like every thing else he did, he did it brilliantly! It starts with his early life that wasn't a cheerful one at all. He leaves to go away to school at 14 and never returns. He just keeps making remarkable progress but that makes enemies and those that admire his work.
He is eventually offered a job to protect the Mint. Due to all the counterfeiters of the times, this was a real issue. How the government was dealing with the problem was almost as bad. Newton didn't want the job. The pay was excellent and he couldn't say no.
There was a certain counterfeiter that was Newton's arch enemy, in a matter of speaking. They battled each other for years!
This book was wonderful in giving the reader a look at what life was like during that period and what counterfeiters were doing and how it effected everyday life. It also gave us a look at what Newton was like, a more personal, up close, look.
I enjoy history books that makes me feel like I am there and this one does! Highly recommend!
November 16, 2020
England's money was vanishing! To be specific, legal silver coinage was being taken out of circulation, melted down, and was being sold abroad at a handsome profit throughout the last half of the 17th century. Stop gap loans including 1.2 million pounds from the newly created Bank of England could not staunch the bleeding. In the middle of a war with France, the country was on the brink of bankruptcy.
The solution? Let's get the smartest guy in England and put him in charge of England's money. Well, it didn't actually play out in exactly that way. Sir Isaac Newton had already established his reputation. However, he was restless in his role as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College in Cambridge. Cambridge was a mere intellectual backwater. London was the place to be for intellectual stimulation, influence, recognition and prestige.
As early as 1690 he was asking friends like John Locke to explore opportunities for a position in London. Six years later, he got his wish. Charles Montague, Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Trinity College alumnus, and friend of John Locke offered Newton the job of Warden of the Mint.
This book is not just the dual biography of a scientist and a counterfeiter. It is a fascinating view of London in the late 17th century where a commercial revolution was underway. As with all revolutions there were winners and losers. The losers were very poorly off indeed. They included unskilled and semi-skilled laborers excluded from the craft guilds and forced to accept low-paying piece-work wages while being squeezed by the threat of advancing mechanization. Even a prisoner needed money to stay alive, money to buy food or to forestall brutal treatment. A series of catastrophes swept the country: the Great Plague in 1665, the Great Fire in 1666, and periodic outbreaks of smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, malaria and dysentery. Typhus was so prevalent in the prisons that it was known as jail fever. Petty corruption thrived in these conditions. William Chaloner found modest success as purveyor of quack remedies. However, he was always convinced he was destined for greater things.
Chaloner advanced to crude counterfeiting (a widespread practice known as clipping which entailed shaving off bits of silver coinage and melting down the metal to create new coins). As a criminal he demonstrated remarkable enterprise. In 1662 England had begun the lugubrious process of striking new coins to replace the debased currency. To discourage counterfeiting, the new coins had etched rims. Chaloner befriended a goldsmith who showed him the techniques for working with molten metal and partnered with a master engraver named Thomas Taylor.
Chaloner's ingenuity did not stop there. In 1694 the Bank of England began issuing promissory notes to wealthy bank customers. The cash was then loaned to the government. The success of this transaction rested on the bank's assumption that only a fraction of the notes would be returned for redemption. The outstanding notes would circulate just like money. The denominations of these notes were large in order to limit them to large financiers. Nevertheless, Chaloner found the craftsmen to create high quality forgeries, and the means to circulate them.
Author Thomas Levenson delves the human dimensions of Sir Isaac Newton's personality. Newton was not merely brilliant. He was methodical, obsessive and patient. He brought these habits to his work as Warden of the Mint, but added one other skill: interrogation of the most relentless and detailed sort. Counterfeiting was a capital crime. Newton quickly discerned that lower rung criminals – the distributors – could easily be persuaded to inform on their higher-ups. In addition, he cultivated his own jailhouse snitch. Given the confines and monotony of prison even the most cautious prisoner was likely to confide in someone. Newton slowly worked his way up to the top of the counterfeiting ring.
Author Thomas Levenson reveals other aspects of Newton's personality. Despite the popular suspicion that alchemists were charlatans, Newton, like Robert Boyle, was a devoted practitioner. This was not merely the curious whim of a polymath. It was an obsession that absorbed his energy over large parts of a four year period. Levenson links this obsession with Newton's realization that the physical laws he was uncovering appeared to diminish the role of God: “In a world composed entirely of matter in motion, the traditional role of God had to shrink. The author of a mechanical universe could put events in train, but after that primary impulse, the cosmos could wend its way forward through time on its own.” (p.79) In other words, merely assigning God the role of the first cause was emotionally unsatisfying. “Alchemy seemed to offer a way for him to rescue God from the threat of irrelevance – salvation through the ancient alchemical idea of a vital agent or spirit.” (p.82) That living spirit animated matter; it was capable of destroying and regenerating. Newton experimented, measured, annotated and interpreted, often in florid mystical language, in pursuit of this evidence of divine activity.
Levenson assesses the suppression of this aspect of Newton's career in colorful terms: “The distinction was simple: the real Newton, the official Newton, compounded antimony and mercury in precise proportions and carefully wrote down the results. The other Newton was an embarrassing uncle to be kept in the attic lest he walk unsteadily down Trumpington Street, uttering just a little too loudly about wingless dragons and infernal fire.” (p.87)
But the real Newton was all of these parts: the reclusive scientist, the brilliant mathematician, the visionary natural philosopher, the prickly egoist, the spiritual investigator, and finally, the relentless grand inquisitor determined to bring monetary miscreants to justice.
The solution? Let's get the smartest guy in England and put him in charge of England's money. Well, it didn't actually play out in exactly that way. Sir Isaac Newton had already established his reputation. However, he was restless in his role as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College in Cambridge. Cambridge was a mere intellectual backwater. London was the place to be for intellectual stimulation, influence, recognition and prestige.
As early as 1690 he was asking friends like John Locke to explore opportunities for a position in London. Six years later, he got his wish. Charles Montague, Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Trinity College alumnus, and friend of John Locke offered Newton the job of Warden of the Mint.
This book is not just the dual biography of a scientist and a counterfeiter. It is a fascinating view of London in the late 17th century where a commercial revolution was underway. As with all revolutions there were winners and losers. The losers were very poorly off indeed. They included unskilled and semi-skilled laborers excluded from the craft guilds and forced to accept low-paying piece-work wages while being squeezed by the threat of advancing mechanization. Even a prisoner needed money to stay alive, money to buy food or to forestall brutal treatment. A series of catastrophes swept the country: the Great Plague in 1665, the Great Fire in 1666, and periodic outbreaks of smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, malaria and dysentery. Typhus was so prevalent in the prisons that it was known as jail fever. Petty corruption thrived in these conditions. William Chaloner found modest success as purveyor of quack remedies. However, he was always convinced he was destined for greater things.
Chaloner advanced to crude counterfeiting (a widespread practice known as clipping which entailed shaving off bits of silver coinage and melting down the metal to create new coins). As a criminal he demonstrated remarkable enterprise. In 1662 England had begun the lugubrious process of striking new coins to replace the debased currency. To discourage counterfeiting, the new coins had etched rims. Chaloner befriended a goldsmith who showed him the techniques for working with molten metal and partnered with a master engraver named Thomas Taylor.
Chaloner's ingenuity did not stop there. In 1694 the Bank of England began issuing promissory notes to wealthy bank customers. The cash was then loaned to the government. The success of this transaction rested on the bank's assumption that only a fraction of the notes would be returned for redemption. The outstanding notes would circulate just like money. The denominations of these notes were large in order to limit them to large financiers. Nevertheless, Chaloner found the craftsmen to create high quality forgeries, and the means to circulate them.
Author Thomas Levenson delves the human dimensions of Sir Isaac Newton's personality. Newton was not merely brilliant. He was methodical, obsessive and patient. He brought these habits to his work as Warden of the Mint, but added one other skill: interrogation of the most relentless and detailed sort. Counterfeiting was a capital crime. Newton quickly discerned that lower rung criminals – the distributors – could easily be persuaded to inform on their higher-ups. In addition, he cultivated his own jailhouse snitch. Given the confines and monotony of prison even the most cautious prisoner was likely to confide in someone. Newton slowly worked his way up to the top of the counterfeiting ring.
Author Thomas Levenson reveals other aspects of Newton's personality. Despite the popular suspicion that alchemists were charlatans, Newton, like Robert Boyle, was a devoted practitioner. This was not merely the curious whim of a polymath. It was an obsession that absorbed his energy over large parts of a four year period. Levenson links this obsession with Newton's realization that the physical laws he was uncovering appeared to diminish the role of God: “In a world composed entirely of matter in motion, the traditional role of God had to shrink. The author of a mechanical universe could put events in train, but after that primary impulse, the cosmos could wend its way forward through time on its own.” (p.79) In other words, merely assigning God the role of the first cause was emotionally unsatisfying. “Alchemy seemed to offer a way for him to rescue God from the threat of irrelevance – salvation through the ancient alchemical idea of a vital agent or spirit.” (p.82) That living spirit animated matter; it was capable of destroying and regenerating. Newton experimented, measured, annotated and interpreted, often in florid mystical language, in pursuit of this evidence of divine activity.
Levenson assesses the suppression of this aspect of Newton's career in colorful terms: “The distinction was simple: the real Newton, the official Newton, compounded antimony and mercury in precise proportions and carefully wrote down the results. The other Newton was an embarrassing uncle to be kept in the attic lest he walk unsteadily down Trumpington Street, uttering just a little too loudly about wingless dragons and infernal fire.” (p.87)
But the real Newton was all of these parts: the reclusive scientist, the brilliant mathematician, the visionary natural philosopher, the prickly egoist, the spiritual investigator, and finally, the relentless grand inquisitor determined to bring monetary miscreants to justice.
September 13, 2020
This book starts by giving a brief history of Isaac Newton’s accomplishments. We learn about his work in optics, gravity, and mathematics. He also worked on a false science of alchemy and probably suffered from burn-out as a result and needed a change of careers.
An opportunity was just around the corner. Newton became the Warden of the Royal Mint. Newton took his job very seriously.
William Chaloner was another type of genius. He was a very successful counterfeiter. Newton and Chaloner cross paths and a battle royal begins.
In the end, Chaloner is hung for his crimes
An opportunity was just around the corner. Newton became the Warden of the Royal Mint. Newton took his job very seriously.
William Chaloner was another type of genius. He was a very successful counterfeiter. Newton and Chaloner cross paths and a battle royal begins.
In the end, Chaloner is hung for his crimes
July 22, 2009
Isaac Newton stopped my attempt to get through Physics I-II in college dead in its tracks, so I've kind of stayed out of his way ever since. However, who could resist an account of Newton matching wits with one of the cleverest counterfeiters of his time? And once I was drawn into the tale, I learned more about Newton's scientific accomplishments (and exceedingly strange life) than I ever thought anyone could get me to absorb. To distill the story to its essence: Newton, although famous, was poor and bored with his life at Cambridge, despite the fact that he had tenure. (Cambridge University was, at the time, an intellectual backwater for anyone with a scientific bent.) So friends arranged for him to become Warden of the Royal Mint during one of Britain's worst financial crises, and counterfeiting was rampant. Newton got the Mint to replace the nation's coinage with coins that were much harder to tamper with or duplicate, which made him the marked enemy of the counterfeiters, and one in particular, a devilishly devious character named William Chaloner. And when Newton decided to take the man down... well, I can't say thrills abound, but it's a cracking good tale, and a fascinating glimpse of London before there were police.
October 21, 2022
Interesting
3 1/2 Stars
A very well written book that has pages of references, and thus validates the fact that it is biographical.
I picked up this book because I did not have a huge knowledge of Isaac Newton. And as I was informed through the book, his life was not only one of great academic prowess, but a bit adventuresome also
3 1/2 Stars
A very well written book that has pages of references, and thus validates the fact that it is biographical.
I picked up this book because I did not have a huge knowledge of Isaac Newton. And as I was informed through the book, his life was not only one of great academic prowess, but a bit adventuresome also
August 14, 2016
It's an ideal airplane book. Read it basically in one sitting, enroute home from Washington.
Newton was seriously badass. I had heard, wrongly, that he invented milled edges for coins while Warden of the Mint. He didn't -- they were invented well before him.
What Newton did do as Warden of the Mint is less easy to summarize, but more impressive. He supervised and successfully pushed through the Great Recoinage. No technical innovation, but an impressive display of management skill for somebody famously asocial who had never previously had any executive role.
He also went to extraordinary lengths to combat counterfeiting. We think of Newton as other-worldly and bookish. But apparently he ran a large network of informants and thief-takers in late 17th century London, tracking down counterfeiters. Newton personally interrogated witnesses, organized investigations, and in some cases, prosecuted offenders. Many of whom were hanged for their crimes.
Newton was seriously badass. I had heard, wrongly, that he invented milled edges for coins while Warden of the Mint. He didn't -- they were invented well before him.
What Newton did do as Warden of the Mint is less easy to summarize, but more impressive. He supervised and successfully pushed through the Great Recoinage. No technical innovation, but an impressive display of management skill for somebody famously asocial who had never previously had any executive role.
He also went to extraordinary lengths to combat counterfeiting. We think of Newton as other-worldly and bookish. But apparently he ran a large network of informants and thief-takers in late 17th century London, tracking down counterfeiters. Newton personally interrogated witnesses, organized investigations, and in some cases, prosecuted offenders. Many of whom were hanged for their crimes.
October 10, 2021
For the last half of Newton's adult life, 30 years, he was warden of the Royal Mint as well as Master of the Mint.
Although the post was intended to be a sinecure, Newton took it seriously. By the time of his appointment the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping and counterfeiting during the Nine Years' War to the extent that it had been decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation. The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement, but was salvaged by Newton's personal intervention. Newton's chemical and mathematical knowledge proved of great use in carrying out this Great Recoinage of 1696, a process that was completed in about two years. Newton was subsequently given the post of Master of the Mint in 1699, a post worth between £1,200 and £1,500 per annum.
Despite counterfeiting being considered high treason, punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering, convicting even the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult. Undaunted, Newton conducted more than 100 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects between June 1698 and Christmas 1699. He himself gathered much of the evidence he needed to successfully prosecute 28 coiners.
One of Newton's cases as the King's attorney was against William Chaloner. Chaloner's schemes included setting up phony conspiracies of Catholics and then turning in the hapless conspirators whom he had entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton put Chaloner on trial for counterfeiting and had him sent to Newgate Prison in September 1697. But Chaloner had friends in high places, who helped him secure an acquittal and his release. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered on 23 March 1699 at Tyburn gallows. Then, he was publicly disemboweled.
Due to his income from the Mint Newton became very wealthy, although he lost a substantial sum in the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. Newton's niece Catherine Conduitt reported that he "lost twenty thousand pounds. Of this, however, he never much liked to hear…" This was a fortune at the time (equivalent to about £3 million in present-day terms), but it is not clear whether it was a monetary loss or an opportunity cost loss.
I read this in conjunction with listening to Newtons Law podcast. I also listened to a dramatised account of his time at the Mint. This was Isaac Newton - Nemesis.
Although the post was intended to be a sinecure, Newton took it seriously. By the time of his appointment the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping and counterfeiting during the Nine Years' War to the extent that it had been decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation. The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement, but was salvaged by Newton's personal intervention. Newton's chemical and mathematical knowledge proved of great use in carrying out this Great Recoinage of 1696, a process that was completed in about two years. Newton was subsequently given the post of Master of the Mint in 1699, a post worth between £1,200 and £1,500 per annum.
Despite counterfeiting being considered high treason, punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering, convicting even the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult. Undaunted, Newton conducted more than 100 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects between June 1698 and Christmas 1699. He himself gathered much of the evidence he needed to successfully prosecute 28 coiners.
One of Newton's cases as the King's attorney was against William Chaloner. Chaloner's schemes included setting up phony conspiracies of Catholics and then turning in the hapless conspirators whom he had entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning Parliament, Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton put Chaloner on trial for counterfeiting and had him sent to Newgate Prison in September 1697. But Chaloner had friends in high places, who helped him secure an acquittal and his release. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered on 23 March 1699 at Tyburn gallows. Then, he was publicly disemboweled.
Due to his income from the Mint Newton became very wealthy, although he lost a substantial sum in the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. Newton's niece Catherine Conduitt reported that he "lost twenty thousand pounds. Of this, however, he never much liked to hear…" This was a fortune at the time (equivalent to about £3 million in present-day terms), but it is not clear whether it was a monetary loss or an opportunity cost loss.
I read this in conjunction with listening to Newtons Law podcast. I also listened to a dramatised account of his time at the Mint. This was Isaac Newton - Nemesis.
November 23, 2024
Newton is well-known for his first career as a mathematician and natural philosopher (and secret alchemy hobby), but less known for his second career after he became bored in Cambridge. When England's coinage system was in terrible shape and the country nearly bankrupt, they called upon the smartest guy in the room -- Isaac Newton -- to become Warden of the Mint. He applied his unique intelligence and dogged perseverance to economics as well as criminal investigation. Counterfeiting was rampant and the champion of all counterfeiters kept slipping through the legal grasp. In work worthy of any criminal lawyer or private investigator, even before such things were known, he successfully played the long game and got William Chaloner sentenced to hang.
Unfortunately, although this book was supposed to be about that second career, the first full half of the book was about Newton's earlier years. I was getting impatient to get to the reason for the story. Also, the author liberally quoted 17th century letters throughout, so there was a lot of text like "Tis the minera of Gold even as or Magnet is ye mineral of this or Chalkybs...Tis a spirit highly volatile, or ffiery Draon, our internal secret fire." Wading through that stuff often made for tedious reading. Curiously, although this was supposed to be about his career as Warden of the Mint, the library call number for the book is 530.092, which puts it in the section on physics.
Unfortunately, although this book was supposed to be about that second career, the first full half of the book was about Newton's earlier years. I was getting impatient to get to the reason for the story. Also, the author liberally quoted 17th century letters throughout, so there was a lot of text like "Tis the minera of Gold even as or Magnet is ye mineral of this or Chalkybs...Tis a spirit highly volatile, or ffiery Draon, our internal secret fire." Wading through that stuff often made for tedious reading. Curiously, although this was supposed to be about his career as Warden of the Mint, the library call number for the book is 530.092, which puts it in the section on physics.
March 26, 2012
I wanted to love this book, but I just liked it a lot. It's the kind of book that I'd have to sit down with and say, "well, let's just be friends." I learned so much about Newton that I didn't know before, but I found Newton vs. Chaloner (the counterfeiter) less interesting than the beginning of bank notes, and paper money. Newton himself always stays a bit out of reach to us, but Levenson more than adequately tracks the path from logical, theoretical thinker to practical and pragmatic manager and detective. This book reminded me of David Liss' historical fiction. They both tell detailed (and complicated) tales that are part mystery, part history lesson. Well written and clear, if you're a fan of Steven Johnson (Ghost Map), Deborah Blum (Poisoner's Handbook) or even writers such as Oliver Sacks, I think you'd enjoy this.
June 30, 2020
Well organized. just enough background on both men before the actual case.
December 6, 2023
2023 52 Book Challenge - 16) Featuring One Of The Seven Deadly Sins
This was quite an interesting read. It starts by giving a brief biography of Isaac Newton, before discussing the state of the currency in England, and the wider issues pushing for the need to solve the currency issue, most notably the wars pushed for by King William III in Europe, and the creation of the Bank of England.
The book covers the era where Newton was involved with the Mint, and later when he was Master of the Mint, focusing specifically on the case of the counterfeiter William Chaloner. I thought it was really interesting how Newton managed to trap Chaloner and it was worth the read.
This was quite an interesting read. It starts by giving a brief biography of Isaac Newton, before discussing the state of the currency in England, and the wider issues pushing for the need to solve the currency issue, most notably the wars pushed for by King William III in Europe, and the creation of the Bank of England.
The book covers the era where Newton was involved with the Mint, and later when he was Master of the Mint, focusing specifically on the case of the counterfeiter William Chaloner. I thought it was really interesting how Newton managed to trap Chaloner and it was worth the read.
September 30, 2009
Not only was Newton a great scientist and mathematician, but in his 50’s, he left Cambridge and scientific explorations for a second career as Warden of the Mint in London. In Newton and the Counterfeiter, Levenson initially brings us up to speed on Newton and his work as a scientist. He paints a vivid picture of Newton the person, recounting how this rural child and compulsive tinkerer and scholarship student at Cambridge, who initially paid his way by waiting on other students’ tables, came to revolutionize science. He also explains how through careful thought and relentless experimentation, Newton gradually came to develop the insights and theories that brought him fame.
We then learn, surprisingly, that in his 50’s, at the height of Newton’s academic career, he abandoned academia for a position as a government bureaucrat in London. Levenson describes the crises in Newton’s work and personal life that apparently precipitated a nervous breakdown and his subsequent change in profession. This part of the book provides a colorful account of a time of crisis and transformation for money and the banking system. London in the latter part of the 17th century is where and when today’s monetary and banking system had its genesis. During this period, money made a revolutionary transition from coins made from gold and silver that were literally worth the market value of the metal contained, to paper and metal forms of money and banknotes that are purely symbolic and whose value depends entirely on the populace’s confidence in government and financial institutions. Counterfeiting was the widespread cholera and bubonic plague that threatened this nascent financial order, and Newton struggled to inoculate and protect England, when possible, from this contagion.
Newton’s most daring threat came from an ambitious counterfeiter named William Chaloner, who flooded London with counterfeit coins and bills and even plotted, with the help of political influence, to penetrate the Mint by gaining a role in its operations. While the previously mentioned parts of the book are informative and engrossing, the story drags a bit when Levenson describes the cat and mouse game between Chaloner and Newton. Newton’s actions, which eventually played a role in bringing this man to justice, were not all that extraordinary or suspenseful and the fact that Isaac Newton was the person who did them does not make them any more interesting. Nothing described approaches the derring-do, that David Liss, for example, offers in his fictional stories about Benjamin Weaver, a thief taker in 18th century London, or that can by found in gumshoe fiction or in true life stories from the 20th century such as Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre. Nonetheless, the story of Newton’s battle with Chaloner and other counterfeiters serves as a “hook” for an excellent and clear introduction to Newtonian physics, to Newton’s life, and to an epoch of critical importance to financial and economic history.
We then learn, surprisingly, that in his 50’s, at the height of Newton’s academic career, he abandoned academia for a position as a government bureaucrat in London. Levenson describes the crises in Newton’s work and personal life that apparently precipitated a nervous breakdown and his subsequent change in profession. This part of the book provides a colorful account of a time of crisis and transformation for money and the banking system. London in the latter part of the 17th century is where and when today’s monetary and banking system had its genesis. During this period, money made a revolutionary transition from coins made from gold and silver that were literally worth the market value of the metal contained, to paper and metal forms of money and banknotes that are purely symbolic and whose value depends entirely on the populace’s confidence in government and financial institutions. Counterfeiting was the widespread cholera and bubonic plague that threatened this nascent financial order, and Newton struggled to inoculate and protect England, when possible, from this contagion.
Newton’s most daring threat came from an ambitious counterfeiter named William Chaloner, who flooded London with counterfeit coins and bills and even plotted, with the help of political influence, to penetrate the Mint by gaining a role in its operations. While the previously mentioned parts of the book are informative and engrossing, the story drags a bit when Levenson describes the cat and mouse game between Chaloner and Newton. Newton’s actions, which eventually played a role in bringing this man to justice, were not all that extraordinary or suspenseful and the fact that Isaac Newton was the person who did them does not make them any more interesting. Nothing described approaches the derring-do, that David Liss, for example, offers in his fictional stories about Benjamin Weaver, a thief taker in 18th century London, or that can by found in gumshoe fiction or in true life stories from the 20th century such as Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre. Nonetheless, the story of Newton’s battle with Chaloner and other counterfeiters serves as a “hook” for an excellent and clear introduction to Newtonian physics, to Newton’s life, and to an epoch of critical importance to financial and economic history.
January 29, 2013
On June 4, 1661, Issac Newton made a virtually unnoticed arrival as a first year student at Trinity College, Cambridge. Poor and so preoccupied with his studies that he forgot to eat, he left only to escape the plague of 1665. He quietly and diligently studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. When he returned in 1667 to complete his degree he had become the greatest mathematician in the world, but was completely unknown. After being appointed professor he invented the three laws of motion.
The book turns to the story of William Chaloner, a generation younger than Newton, who arrived in London poor and unemployed. He learned how to work metal, then gold and perfected an undetectable counterfeit coin. When England released bank notes (paper money) he saw his chance to outwit the British Mint. Then Sir Issac Newton became its warden.
Sir Isaac Newton, father of Calculus, is most famous for his thirty-five year first career as Professor at Trinity College. He also had a secret career in alchemy. After a nervous breakdown, he gave it up and served as Warden of the Royal Mint (captured anyone who made or circulated counterfiet money). As he explored the darker side of humanity, we see a different side of him: a criminal investigator, interrogator and prosecutor. Newton displayed genius in tracking down William Chaloner, the master counterfeiter.
This book is an outstanding look at a little-known side of Newton's life. Fifty pages and notes and bibliography attest to Thomas Levenson's historical research.
The book turns to the story of William Chaloner, a generation younger than Newton, who arrived in London poor and unemployed. He learned how to work metal, then gold and perfected an undetectable counterfeit coin. When England released bank notes (paper money) he saw his chance to outwit the British Mint. Then Sir Issac Newton became its warden.
Sir Isaac Newton, father of Calculus, is most famous for his thirty-five year first career as Professor at Trinity College. He also had a secret career in alchemy. After a nervous breakdown, he gave it up and served as Warden of the Royal Mint (captured anyone who made or circulated counterfiet money). As he explored the darker side of humanity, we see a different side of him: a criminal investigator, interrogator and prosecutor. Newton displayed genius in tracking down William Chaloner, the master counterfeiter.
This book is an outstanding look at a little-known side of Newton's life. Fifty pages and notes and bibliography attest to Thomas Levenson's historical research.
August 8, 2011
This is a good complement to what you already knew about Newton.
I was waiting for further developments in the story, and was surprised when the main body of the book ended at page 247 of 318. The rest of the book has acknowledgements, notes, bibliography and an index. The author wants us to know that he did a lot of work on this!
Levenson is deft about leading us to the conclusion that Chaloner was good, but not nearly as good as he thought he was. Unfortunately the packaging of this led me to expect Chaloner to be a more worthy opponent, more of a Moriarty. This story is almost a police procedural.
I was also a tad surprised to learn that stick-to-principles Newton was capable of being, er, results-oriented when necessary.
If you liked this book, note that Newton is highly visible in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy.
I was waiting for further developments in the story, and was surprised when the main body of the book ended at page 247 of 318. The rest of the book has acknowledgements, notes, bibliography and an index. The author wants us to know that he did a lot of work on this!
Levenson is deft about leading us to the conclusion that Chaloner was good, but not nearly as good as he thought he was. Unfortunately the packaging of this led me to expect Chaloner to be a more worthy opponent, more of a Moriarty. This story is almost a police procedural.
I was also a tad surprised to learn that stick-to-principles Newton was capable of being, er, results-oriented when necessary.
If you liked this book, note that Newton is highly visible in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy.
February 20, 2021
While the focus of this work is on Isaac Newton's later years as master of the British mint and, incidentally, his pursuit of one of the more successful counterfeiters of the era, the book succeeds best, I think, as an easily accessible biography of his life and work. Author Levenson teaches science writing at MIT and that skill set shows, especially in his treatment of Newtonian physics. The stuff about the counterfeiters was rather tedious in comparison, a hook to sell the book presumably.
January 10, 2011
Just came in through interlibrary loan...so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon on a wonderful chilly winter day.
After a while, this got boring...too much detail about the bad guy and not enough interesting stuff.
After a while, this got boring...too much detail about the bad guy and not enough interesting stuff.
April 30, 2021
This book was excellent. “Newton the Counterfeiter” accomplishes two things: 1. It provides a more-than-adequate short bio of Isaac Newton 2. It recounts the fascinating second-act of the physicists as master of the mint, where he not only tackled some interesting “monetary” policy but also engaged in a cat-and-mouse investigation against William Challoner (“the counterfeiter), who started his career in making sex toys, and who apparently transferred those manufacturing skills into the construction of devices that “knicked” (the practice of cutting pieces of the coin so that in exchange, less of the precious metal would be given) the realm’s coinage, and eventually to direct forgery from raw silver and metal stock.
Readers of Neal Stephenson’s “Baroque Cycle” should be familiar with this general premise, as it seems like the character “Jack the Coiner” is a partially fictionalized version of Challoner, though Jack makes it out a bit better than Challoner in the end. Newton’s entry into the world of coining was initially problematic from the perspective of the authorities. As stated in many other books, including the voluminous bio “Never at Rest”, as well as the more recent book “The Newton Papers”, Newton viewed his chief accomplishments not his physics or mathematical discoveries, but his work on alchemy.
Though it seems Newton’s motivations to pursue this art were entirely abstract, one application of alchemy would be forgery. Since one of the goals of the craft is the “transmutation of elements”, turning lead into gold would be profoundly problematic in the eyes of the sovereign, who’s entire relationship with his kingdom, and in England, Parliament, was predicated on his ability to transfer wealth and resources for various projects and works. In fact, according to the text, practice of alchemy could have led to the penalty of death, and several purported alchemists were hanged (or worse) for being known as practitioners of the craft. Newton was well aware of these possibilities and this is probably one reason (besides the heretical beliefs he held on the Christian canon) that he kept much of his non-mathematical work hidden.
Eventually, through the prestige he garnered from being a member of the Royal Society, he was invited to help the realm with issues of currency. His friends and allies apparently contrived this to occur at least partially as they felt his activities in Cambridge were not salubrious to his mental being. Having lived in quasi-poverty (in terms of assets and salary) in Cambridge, Newton found himself all at once becoming a wealthy man once he assumed his post at the mint.
There were a couple interesting points on Newton here: 1. Newton was apparently the first to come up with a new coin-printing mechanism to minimize the the adulturation of the stock by milling the edges of each coin (a feature that is still present in many coin-currencies today), to accomplish this he engineered a machine and the industrial process for it’s running 2. Newton also apparently did one of the first (perhaps the first) time-and-motion studies upon assuming the title of master of the mint. A little over a hundred years prior to Taylor, Newton was able to analyze each coin minter’s task, understand mechanically what he did, how it fed into the greater process, and entirely process re-engineer the floor in such a way that the mint increased it’s productivity by well-over double the previous baseline of output 3. Newton also prefigured the notion of fiat currency as a way to control the illicit (and legal) trade of precious metals from Europe to England for use of forgery and as a way to regulate certain balance of payments issues England was having with various potentates on the continent.
Any one of these accomplishments would make Newton notable, but to have done all three in his more advanced years, after the founding of his mechanics and part of the calculus (I weight Leibniz’s contribution more heavily here than Newton’s) is astonishing, Newton was a pinnacle polymath. Newton threw himself entirely in his new role, so much so that he even helped lead the investigations to suss out the coin-forger network. Not only leading the interrogations, but doing field work in-cognito. It’s a wonder no television series has yet been made about this phase (or any phase) of his life.
This book is a worthy addition to the books on Newton. As a book on the subject matter, it is superior to the text “The Newton Papers” as that text was more about the actual artifacts of his papers vs. the man and his works. Reading it was a breeze, and I probably could have completed it all in 2 days, but drew it out over a few weeks to serialize the story in my mind.
Another element of the book I haven’t talked about was it’s accounts of William Challoner and his conspiracy. One really feels bad about his fate, hanged till suffocation. Challoner was clearly an intelligent and talented man. Though Newton was effectively a member of the landed class by birth rate, his family lands were not plentiful nor did they bestow any illustrious titles to him, Newton is mostly a self-made man. Challoner seems to have come from the class right below Newton’s, and one wonders if he had been given more of a chance, would he have ended up in less infamy, and more note.
The nature of Challoner’s conspiracy is fascinating, and I would read an entire book dedicated to a detailed study of their schemes. Though this book does provide an adequate description of their processes. Overall, highly recommended, either for those interested in Newton, perhaps fans of the Baroque cycle, or even investigative science?
Readers of Neal Stephenson’s “Baroque Cycle” should be familiar with this general premise, as it seems like the character “Jack the Coiner” is a partially fictionalized version of Challoner, though Jack makes it out a bit better than Challoner in the end. Newton’s entry into the world of coining was initially problematic from the perspective of the authorities. As stated in many other books, including the voluminous bio “Never at Rest”, as well as the more recent book “The Newton Papers”, Newton viewed his chief accomplishments not his physics or mathematical discoveries, but his work on alchemy.
Though it seems Newton’s motivations to pursue this art were entirely abstract, one application of alchemy would be forgery. Since one of the goals of the craft is the “transmutation of elements”, turning lead into gold would be profoundly problematic in the eyes of the sovereign, who’s entire relationship with his kingdom, and in England, Parliament, was predicated on his ability to transfer wealth and resources for various projects and works. In fact, according to the text, practice of alchemy could have led to the penalty of death, and several purported alchemists were hanged (or worse) for being known as practitioners of the craft. Newton was well aware of these possibilities and this is probably one reason (besides the heretical beliefs he held on the Christian canon) that he kept much of his non-mathematical work hidden.
Eventually, through the prestige he garnered from being a member of the Royal Society, he was invited to help the realm with issues of currency. His friends and allies apparently contrived this to occur at least partially as they felt his activities in Cambridge were not salubrious to his mental being. Having lived in quasi-poverty (in terms of assets and salary) in Cambridge, Newton found himself all at once becoming a wealthy man once he assumed his post at the mint.
There were a couple interesting points on Newton here: 1. Newton was apparently the first to come up with a new coin-printing mechanism to minimize the the adulturation of the stock by milling the edges of each coin (a feature that is still present in many coin-currencies today), to accomplish this he engineered a machine and the industrial process for it’s running 2. Newton also apparently did one of the first (perhaps the first) time-and-motion studies upon assuming the title of master of the mint. A little over a hundred years prior to Taylor, Newton was able to analyze each coin minter’s task, understand mechanically what he did, how it fed into the greater process, and entirely process re-engineer the floor in such a way that the mint increased it’s productivity by well-over double the previous baseline of output 3. Newton also prefigured the notion of fiat currency as a way to control the illicit (and legal) trade of precious metals from Europe to England for use of forgery and as a way to regulate certain balance of payments issues England was having with various potentates on the continent.
Any one of these accomplishments would make Newton notable, but to have done all three in his more advanced years, after the founding of his mechanics and part of the calculus (I weight Leibniz’s contribution more heavily here than Newton’s) is astonishing, Newton was a pinnacle polymath. Newton threw himself entirely in his new role, so much so that he even helped lead the investigations to suss out the coin-forger network. Not only leading the interrogations, but doing field work in-cognito. It’s a wonder no television series has yet been made about this phase (or any phase) of his life.
This book is a worthy addition to the books on Newton. As a book on the subject matter, it is superior to the text “The Newton Papers” as that text was more about the actual artifacts of his papers vs. the man and his works. Reading it was a breeze, and I probably could have completed it all in 2 days, but drew it out over a few weeks to serialize the story in my mind.
Another element of the book I haven’t talked about was it’s accounts of William Challoner and his conspiracy. One really feels bad about his fate, hanged till suffocation. Challoner was clearly an intelligent and talented man. Though Newton was effectively a member of the landed class by birth rate, his family lands were not plentiful nor did they bestow any illustrious titles to him, Newton is mostly a self-made man. Challoner seems to have come from the class right below Newton’s, and one wonders if he had been given more of a chance, would he have ended up in less infamy, and more note.
The nature of Challoner’s conspiracy is fascinating, and I would read an entire book dedicated to a detailed study of their schemes. Though this book does provide an adequate description of their processes. Overall, highly recommended, either for those interested in Newton, perhaps fans of the Baroque cycle, or even investigative science?
July 16, 2017
Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson recounts Isaac Newton's tenure as Warden of the King's Mint, a sinecure in which, as one might expect, he over-performed. Firs,t he conducted a spectacularly effective recoinage of England's currency, making it more difficult to counterfeit; then he pursued and ultimately brought William Chaloner, England's most notorious counterfeiter to the gallows.
This story is told effectively, folding a sketch of Newton's extraordinary scientific career into the core narrative wherein the scientist, who never had managed anything in his life, demonstrated what brilliance can, sometimes, do when confronted by practical problems.
Newton was, undoubtedly, one of a handful of true geniuses humanity has produced. For the better part of his intellectual life, he sequestered himself in mathematical and cosmological thought. Then, in his forties, he became deeply involved in alchemical experimentation. He wasn't able to turn lead into gold, however, and it would appear that a massive depression he experienced had something to do with this failure. Approaching fifty, he wanted to earn more money--he had ample fame--and move from Cambridge, where he was a professor, to London, where life might be more enriching in different ways.
The turn from science (pure thought) to administration and then detective work has few parallels. I think, for instance, of Robert Oppenheimer, a brilliant physicist who directed the Manhattan Project, but no one else comes to mind.
Some of the Amazon verbiage about this book suggests it would make an excellent HBO mini-series. I think this suggestion is correct. There are many other books that dwell at greater length on Newton's character and personality. His genius was in some measure a function of generalized obsessiveness, a non-stop drive to do away with whatever provoked him. A frightening man, implacable, impossible to out-think. The crafty, amoral, uneducated Chaloner was somewhat similar. He kept coming back to the idea that he could make money grow into more money--more or less the alchemical quest.
This story is told effectively, folding a sketch of Newton's extraordinary scientific career into the core narrative wherein the scientist, who never had managed anything in his life, demonstrated what brilliance can, sometimes, do when confronted by practical problems.
Newton was, undoubtedly, one of a handful of true geniuses humanity has produced. For the better part of his intellectual life, he sequestered himself in mathematical and cosmological thought. Then, in his forties, he became deeply involved in alchemical experimentation. He wasn't able to turn lead into gold, however, and it would appear that a massive depression he experienced had something to do with this failure. Approaching fifty, he wanted to earn more money--he had ample fame--and move from Cambridge, where he was a professor, to London, where life might be more enriching in different ways.
The turn from science (pure thought) to administration and then detective work has few parallels. I think, for instance, of Robert Oppenheimer, a brilliant physicist who directed the Manhattan Project, but no one else comes to mind.
Some of the Amazon verbiage about this book suggests it would make an excellent HBO mini-series. I think this suggestion is correct. There are many other books that dwell at greater length on Newton's character and personality. His genius was in some measure a function of generalized obsessiveness, a non-stop drive to do away with whatever provoked him. A frightening man, implacable, impossible to out-think. The crafty, amoral, uneducated Chaloner was somewhat similar. He kept coming back to the idea that he could make money grow into more money--more or less the alchemical quest.
May 27, 2023
This was a great story on the history of currency, banking and the Royal Mint in Newton's lifetime. However, the beginning of the book leaned heavily on telling Newton's early biography and scientific career. I feel like that could have been a much smaller section since the title of the book has any reader interested more in how Newton chased down Counterfeiters. However, still a very fascinating read.
November 18, 2018
Неожиданно интересная книга, про противостояние Ньютона как смотрителя Монетного Двора с Чалонером, в меру крупным фальшивомонетчиком - каждая глава углубляется в какую-то конкретную тему, будь то особенности характера Ньютона, его отношения с другими людьми - или подчас более интересные - рассказывает о криминальном мире Лондона тех времен.
November 22, 2023
This was good writing, or at least enough of a page turner to keep me going... which is saying something for a history book. I haven't read anything of Isaac Newton before outside of school, so this was an interesting slice of his life.
July 31, 2022
An interesting part of Isaac Newton's life I had known nothing about. Well researched and well explained.
June 22, 2016
Isaac Newton is most famous as a scientist, a key figure in the scientific revolution who developed laws of motion and gravitation as well as calculus (whether Leibniz developed it first is a controversy for another book). He is less well known for his interest in alchemy (transmuting base metals into gold) and esoteric biblical studies. Perhaps least known is his tenure at the Royal Mint, where he oversaw a major recoining project and prosecuted counterfeiters.
While focused on Newton's years with the Mint, this book does sketch out Newton's early years and scientific contributions. During his Cambridge professorship, Newton wrote the Principia and secretly worked on alchemical experiments. He became quite famous in Europe, though he was not very personable. As described in the book, he is the paradigm of the cold, calculating scientist. He did well for himself but did have a teacher's salary.
Friends encouraged him to move to London where he'd have more contacts and better prospects. Newton didn't go until he was offered the job of Warden of the Royal Mint. The main project that faced him was recoining the English money in circulation. At the time, all money was in coins made of precious metals. Unfortunately, silver was more valuable on the Continent than in England, which lead to various schemes where criminals would clip off bits of coins (if not just melting them down) and take the silver to Belgium and France. There, the silver bought more gold than it would in England. The process of exporting English silver, converting it to gold, and returning to England to buy more silver was highly profitable. The Mint redesigned the coins to prevent fraudulent activity.
The other task Newton faced was prosecuting the "clippers" and the "coyners," people who made false coins by mixing in other metals with the silver (if they even used silver). One of the most skillful men at this was William Chaloner. He had the skills to make dies from which to cast coins. In the last two decades, he counterfeited both English and French money. To solve their economic woes (i.e. financing a war with France), the government began issuing the first bonds, described as a lottery investment. Chaloner also forged lottery sheets. These many crimes were hard to prosecute thanks to the corruption in the legal system and the craftiness of the criminals.
The book explains the economic state of England quite well, making it easy to understand the issues involved and the urgency of the situation. The grittiness of criminal life in late 1600s London is especially interesting and compelling. Networks of criminals acquired needed materials, produced forgeries, and distributed the fake money. But if someone was caught they often would be willing to testify against others in order to save their own skins. The cat-and-mouse game Newton and Chaloner played is vividly described and makes for an exciting legal thriller.
Well researched and written, this book is a great, quick read that gives readers a glimpse of a fascinating, if forgotten, bit of history.
While focused on Newton's years with the Mint, this book does sketch out Newton's early years and scientific contributions. During his Cambridge professorship, Newton wrote the Principia and secretly worked on alchemical experiments. He became quite famous in Europe, though he was not very personable. As described in the book, he is the paradigm of the cold, calculating scientist. He did well for himself but did have a teacher's salary.
Friends encouraged him to move to London where he'd have more contacts and better prospects. Newton didn't go until he was offered the job of Warden of the Royal Mint. The main project that faced him was recoining the English money in circulation. At the time, all money was in coins made of precious metals. Unfortunately, silver was more valuable on the Continent than in England, which lead to various schemes where criminals would clip off bits of coins (if not just melting them down) and take the silver to Belgium and France. There, the silver bought more gold than it would in England. The process of exporting English silver, converting it to gold, and returning to England to buy more silver was highly profitable. The Mint redesigned the coins to prevent fraudulent activity.
The other task Newton faced was prosecuting the "clippers" and the "coyners," people who made false coins by mixing in other metals with the silver (if they even used silver). One of the most skillful men at this was William Chaloner. He had the skills to make dies from which to cast coins. In the last two decades, he counterfeited both English and French money. To solve their economic woes (i.e. financing a war with France), the government began issuing the first bonds, described as a lottery investment. Chaloner also forged lottery sheets. These many crimes were hard to prosecute thanks to the corruption in the legal system and the craftiness of the criminals.
The book explains the economic state of England quite well, making it easy to understand the issues involved and the urgency of the situation. The grittiness of criminal life in late 1600s London is especially interesting and compelling. Networks of criminals acquired needed materials, produced forgeries, and distributed the fake money. But if someone was caught they often would be willing to testify against others in order to save their own skins. The cat-and-mouse game Newton and Chaloner played is vividly described and makes for an exciting legal thriller.
Well researched and written, this book is a great, quick read that gives readers a glimpse of a fascinating, if forgotten, bit of history.
September 16, 2012
An interesting account of the clash between two diametrically opposed people. In plan, the book creates a medium grade account of Newton's life, his genius for mathematics, his extraordinary grasp of almost any subject his mind brought to focus. The account covers the unprecendented intellectual output and driven work ethic of Newton. It explores his friendships with Locke, Hooke, Pepys and a possible continental love interest.
It provides an introduction to the revolution that was differential calculus, enough to give a lay person an appreciation of Newton's acheivements, his internal religious drives, and also by the way an account of his 30 year involvement with alchemy. The insights the author offers for explanation for this last area of interest for Newton are well argued and provide a new aspect which is otherwise left out of most brief accounts of his life. The appreciation of Newton's personal piety and passions serve this book to highlight the anvil against which the antagonist of this account, one William Chalconer, would be struck.
Once Newton takes the role as warden of the Royal Mint, he becomes responsible for the arrest and prosecution of illegal coining operations, then rife in London. The character of Chalcenor actually proves a worthy criminal adversary who for a time is able to hoodwink the establishment, while maintaining the highest quality private coining operations in London, even giving evidence at parliamentary commitees, and publishing methods of stamping out the crime.
The story of Chalcenor and his battle of wits with Newton plays out over several years, and casts a new light on Isaac Newton in his role as criminal detective and possibly even torturer.
The book covers the time of James II and the Jacobite uprisings, protestant and catholic clashes, William of Orange, the black death, the south sea bubble and the wars in France. As an introduction to these times this book provides a good jumping off point to many interesting subjects. The only thing was that it left me wanting much more detail about each of these subjects, and so the book is too short at about 250 pages. I wanted more, and shall seek out more at some time. So in general, a provocative read.
It provides an introduction to the revolution that was differential calculus, enough to give a lay person an appreciation of Newton's acheivements, his internal religious drives, and also by the way an account of his 30 year involvement with alchemy. The insights the author offers for explanation for this last area of interest for Newton are well argued and provide a new aspect which is otherwise left out of most brief accounts of his life. The appreciation of Newton's personal piety and passions serve this book to highlight the anvil against which the antagonist of this account, one William Chalconer, would be struck.
Once Newton takes the role as warden of the Royal Mint, he becomes responsible for the arrest and prosecution of illegal coining operations, then rife in London. The character of Chalcenor actually proves a worthy criminal adversary who for a time is able to hoodwink the establishment, while maintaining the highest quality private coining operations in London, even giving evidence at parliamentary commitees, and publishing methods of stamping out the crime.
The story of Chalcenor and his battle of wits with Newton plays out over several years, and casts a new light on Isaac Newton in his role as criminal detective and possibly even torturer.
The book covers the time of James II and the Jacobite uprisings, protestant and catholic clashes, William of Orange, the black death, the south sea bubble and the wars in France. As an introduction to these times this book provides a good jumping off point to many interesting subjects. The only thing was that it left me wanting much more detail about each of these subjects, and so the book is too short at about 250 pages. I wanted more, and shall seek out more at some time. So in general, a provocative read.
February 23, 2015
The title of the book had me expecting a Sherlock Holmes vs Moriarty type of story featuring two brilliant antagonists. However, I was dissapointed to find that the story was more Javert vs Valjean than Holmes vs Moriarty.
First, a good third of the book provides a review of Newton's personal life and very brief mention of his scientific accomplishments. If you are unfamiliar with the life of Newton, you will find this aspect of the book very interesting. However, if you are familiar with Newton, you will find very little new information.
The title leads you to expect a story where Newton, as the Warden of the Treasury, is pitted against a counterfeiter. Although this is generally true, it is not the story of the Newton's great intelligence against a criminal mastermind. Newton used his position, to establish a network of informants and he used the law to convict a counterfeiter, Chaloner (a somewhat successful counterfeiter of coins). Chaloner was an agressive and brazen crminal, but hardly in Newton's intellectual class. The method of capture and his conviction were very 'ordinary' in nature.
Newton did not relish his role as a policeman but was compelled to carry out this aspect of his Warden's job. He did use his skills of thoroughness and logic to catch and convict but was hardly otherwise challenged.
There are better books about Newton and the 'detective' portion of the story was disappointing.
First, a good third of the book provides a review of Newton's personal life and very brief mention of his scientific accomplishments. If you are unfamiliar with the life of Newton, you will find this aspect of the book very interesting. However, if you are familiar with Newton, you will find very little new information.
The title leads you to expect a story where Newton, as the Warden of the Treasury, is pitted against a counterfeiter. Although this is generally true, it is not the story of the Newton's great intelligence against a criminal mastermind. Newton used his position, to establish a network of informants and he used the law to convict a counterfeiter, Chaloner (a somewhat successful counterfeiter of coins). Chaloner was an agressive and brazen crminal, but hardly in Newton's intellectual class. The method of capture and his conviction were very 'ordinary' in nature.
Newton did not relish his role as a policeman but was compelled to carry out this aspect of his Warden's job. He did use his skills of thoroughness and logic to catch and convict but was hardly otherwise challenged.
There are better books about Newton and the 'detective' portion of the story was disappointing.
March 15, 2011
It is essential when reading non-fiction that something new is learned. It is also essential when enjoying non-fiction that what is learned is fun to talk about. This book was both informative and discussion worthy.
I learned a lot about Isaac Newton, for instance, that his major work "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" was printed only when a colleague asked him his thoughts on a vexing problem of the day. He immediately answered the question to his colleagues surprise who asked him to write down his solution. During the next year and a half, "Principles", was written which made Newton a rock star.
"Newton and the Counterfeiter" is full of antidotes building to what the title implies, a show down between the Mathematician and the criminal mastermind.
The conclusion left me a little disappointed. I guess I wanted Newton to be like Sherlock Holmes using science and intelligence to capture the notorious criminal when ultimately it was, in my opinion, a case filled with unreliable eye witnesses. All in all it was a good read that would recommend.
On a side note, a friend of mine, JT, recommended I listen to podcast #423: The Invention of Money from NPR's This American Life. This was an outstanding complement to the book. It highlights what Newton recognized over 300 years ago, that money is nothing more than trust.
I learned a lot about Isaac Newton, for instance, that his major work "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" was printed only when a colleague asked him his thoughts on a vexing problem of the day. He immediately answered the question to his colleagues surprise who asked him to write down his solution. During the next year and a half, "Principles", was written which made Newton a rock star.
"Newton and the Counterfeiter" is full of antidotes building to what the title implies, a show down between the Mathematician and the criminal mastermind.
The conclusion left me a little disappointed. I guess I wanted Newton to be like Sherlock Holmes using science and intelligence to capture the notorious criminal when ultimately it was, in my opinion, a case filled with unreliable eye witnesses. All in all it was a good read that would recommend.
On a side note, a friend of mine, JT, recommended I listen to podcast #423: The Invention of Money from NPR's This American Life. This was an outstanding complement to the book. It highlights what Newton recognized over 300 years ago, that money is nothing more than trust.
November 19, 2009
Wow. Puffery of biographical/historical work quite frequently claims the work in question “reads like a novel”. This, to put it charitably, is often an optimistic overstatement. However, this book is easily as intriguing and engaging as many a good work of fiction and I am hugely impressed with the author’s ability to spin a fascinating tale within the confines of real research and the limits of contemporary documentation. I loved the presentation of Newton’s character and accomplishments, the introduction of Chaloner, the personal and historical background to Newton’s change of career, and the satisfying conclusion. The historical context is skillfully drawn; I have a much better idea of this turbulent era than I ever had before, and a massive appreciation for how differently Britain’s subsequent history might have read, were it not for Newton’s timely intervention. Splendid!
December 28, 2009
While this story is an enjoyable read, I kept waiting for the Counterfeiter to be more clever and capable than he really was. After giving us the greatest discoveries of his time, I looked for Newton to employ revolutionary new coin minting schemes and amazing detective methods. Not so much. In the end, it was simple brute force; interview, jail and threaten everyone. Newton's case against the Counterfeiter was a crushing parade of witness testimony, no physical evidence, no smoking press. That said, I really enjoyed the story and the life sketch of Newton. It sent me on a journey of rediscovery and appreciation for the contributions of Newton.
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