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SUMMARY:Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career - Dr Patricia Far
 a (University of Cambridge )
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210225T183000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20210225T193000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/5f04f5cd-6317-4898-b592-5339a5f994e5/
DESCRIPTION:The event will be broadcasted live on the Society's Facebook p
 age\, YouTube channel\, and Twitter account\, more information see: https:
 //fb.me/e/OnAH89Qm\n\nAbstract:\nIsaac Newton is celebrated throughout the
  world as a great scientific genius\, but in his early fifties\, he abando
 ned his life as a reclusive scholar at Cambridge to spend three decades in
  London\, a long period of metropolitan activity that is often overlooked.
  Through exploring a painting by William Hogarth packed with Newtonian all
 usions\, I describe aspects of Newton’s activities that usually receive 
 little attention.\n\nTaking Hogarth’s conversation piece as my cue\, I r
 eintegrate Newton into the metropolitan culture at a time when the British
  economy depended on global trading underpinned by slavery. Within only a 
 few years\, he was making and losing small fortunes on the stock market\, 
 manoeuvring for favour at court and entertaining eminent European visitors
 . Knighted by Queen Anne\, and a close ally of the influential Earl of Hal
 ifax (who became Chancellor of the Exchequer)\, Newton occupied a powerful
  position as President of London’s Royal Society. But he also became Mas
 ter of the Mint\, responsible for the nation’s money at a time of financ
 ial crisis. A major investor in the East India Company\, Newton profited f
 rom the revenue generated by selling African captives to wealthy plantatio
 n owners in the Americas\, monitored the African gold that was melted down
  for English guineas\, and revised his great book on gravity by soliciting
  scientific measurements from overseas traders. The Enlightenment is celeb
 rated as the Age of Reason\, but the exploitation and disparity it fostere
 d lie at the heart of modern capitalism.\n-\nDr Patricia Fara has a degree
  in physics from Oxford University (St Hugh’s College)\, a PhD in Histor
 y of Science from London University\, and is currently an Emeritus Fellow 
 of Clare College\, Cambridge. Her major research interests are Enlightenme
 nt Britain\, scientific imagery\, and topics related to women in science b
 oth now and in the past. A regular contributor to popular journals as well
  as In our Time and other radio/TV programmes\, she has published a range 
 of academic and popular books on the history of science. These include the
  prize-winning Science: A Four Thousand Year History (2009) and A Lab of O
 ne’s Own: Science and Suffrage in World War One (2018). This lecture is 
 based on her new book\, Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton’s London Career
  (2021).\nSpeakers:\nDr Patricia Fara (University of Cambridge )
LOCATION:virtual live-stream
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/5f04f5cd-6317-4898-b592-5339a5f994e5/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career - Dr Pat
 ricia Fara (University of Cambridge )
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