Isaac Newton signature

Who Isaac Newton was

Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day 1642 by the calendar then used in England (4 January 1643 by the modern one), and died in London in 1727. His Principia (1687) set out the laws of motion and universal gravitation; he also did fundamental work in optics and mathematics.

He was later Warden and then Master of the Royal Mint and, from 1703, President of the Royal Society, offices that kept him signing documents into his eighties.

The story of the signature

Newton’s usual signature was “Is. Newton”, with his first name abbreviated in a standard way of the period. It appears on letters, on Royal Society papers and on official documents from his years at the Mint, written in a neat, small and regular hand.

He wrote enormous amounts: millions of words on mathematics, alchemy, theology and chronology survive, much of it never published in his lifetime. In some of his alchemical papers he used the pseudonym “Jeova sanctus unus”, an anagram of the Latin form of his name, Isaacus Neuutonus.

Not everything connected with Newton is in his own hand. The manuscript of the Principia sent to the printer, kept at the Royal Society, was largely written out by his assistant and copyist Humphrey Newton (no relation), with corrections by Isaac. And at the King’s School in Grantham, where he was a pupil, his name carved into a window ledge is shown to visitors; it is traditionally said to be his work, though that cannot be proved.

What makes it distinctive

How to give your signature a similar feel

• In the signature generator Type tab, type your first name shortened to two letters plus a full stop, then your surname, and try La Belle Aurore or Pinyon Script with a Slant of 4° to 6°.
• Lower the Size slightly. A small, controlled signature suits this style better than a large one.
• Choose black ink for the look of an eighteenth-century official document.
• For fun, try an anagram of your own name as a pen name, the way Newton did, but keep your real signature for anything legal.

Where to see the original

These links lead to archives, libraries, museums and Wikimedia Commons.

• Wikimedia Commons: Newton’s signature (vector tracing; source in the Whipple Library, University of Cambridge)
• Wikimedia Commons: the printer’s manuscript of the Principia, in Humphrey Newton’s hand (Royal Society)
• Wikimedia Commons: the name “Isaac Newton” carved on a window ledge at the King’s School, Grantham (photograph)