Isaac Newton lost a fortune in the stock bubble that gave finance the word 'bubble'

In 1720, shares in the South Sea Company, which held a dubious monopoly on trade with Spanish America, rocketed nearly tenfold in months as speculators piled in. Newton sold early for a profit, watched the price keep climbing, bought back in near the peak, and lost around £20,000 when it collapsed. He later said he could calculate the motions of the heavens but not the madness of people.

— John Carswell, The South Sea Bubble — 1960
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