Isaac Newton’s wealth ‘intimately connected’ with slavery, author says

A statue of Sir Isaac Newton at a US museum. Newton was at ‘the very centre’ of a gold rush, the book’s author says. Photograph: Zach Gibson/The Guardian

Sir Isaac Newton, whose theory of gravity revolutionised science and who later rose to the upper echelons of London’s financial world, had closer financial ties to the transatlantic trade in enslaved people than was previously understood, a new book has claimed.

The book, Ricardo’s Dream, covers the life and work of David Ricardo, a pioneer of economic theory and the wealthiest stock trader of his day. It also re-examines Newton’s time as master of the mint at the Royal Mint, where the scientist wielded political influence and amassed vast personal wealth after leaving his academic position in Cambridge.