Book description
Already famous throughout Europe for his theories of planetary
motion and gravity, Isaac Newton decided to take on the job of running
the Royal Mint. And there, Newton became drawn into a battle with
William Chaloner, the most skilful of counterfeiters, a man who not
only got away with faking His Majesty's coins (a crime that the law
equated with treason), but was trying to take over the Mint itself.
But Chaloner had no idea who he was taking on. Newton pursued his
enemy with the cold, implacable logic that he brought to his
scientific research. Set against the backdrop of early
eighteenth-century London with its sewers running down the middle of
the streets, its fetid rivers, its packed houses, smoke and fog, its
industries and its great port, this dark tale of obsession and revenge
transforms our image of Britain's greatest scientist.
Thomas Levenson has written three books prior to this one: Ice
Time: Climate, Science and Life on Earth; Measure for Measure: A
Musical History of Science; and Einstein in Berlin. He is also a
film-maker, with ten science documentary films to his credit, several
of which were broadcast on British television. His awards include the
National Academies Prize for Science Communication, a AAAS award for
best science television, and a Peabody Award. He is a professor of
science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives
in Massachussets with his wife and his son.
