Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin celebrating 375th birthday enters circulation

The Royal Mint launches a limited edition 50p coin celebrating the scientist

The celebratory 50p coin (bottom left) alongside three other new coins released this year

(PA)

A new 50p coin celebrating Sir Isaac Newton can be snapped up by people visiting his birthplace and family home from this week.

Just 375 Sir Isaac Newton 2017 50p circulating coins are being released into tills at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire.

The initiative is the result of collaboration between the Royal Mint and the National Trust, to celebrate 375 years since his birth.

The new 50p is already available to purchase online and the Mint will release more of the coins into circulation across the country in the coming months.

Anne Jessopp, the Royal Mint's director of consumer coin, said: "As well as undertaking pioneering work in the fields of physics and astronomy - work for which he is widely known - Isaac Newton was also master of the Royal Mint for three decades, so we couldn't think of a better place to issue a special release of these coins than Woolsthorpe Manor, Newton's birthplace."

Commemorative editions of the coins in gold, silver and collectable brilliant uncirculated finishes are also available to buy from the gift shop at Woolsthorpe Manor, as well as directly from the Royal Mint website.

As well as helping to shape our understanding of maths and physics, Sir Isaac was master of the Royal Mint for nearly three decades.

When he was appointed warden of the Mint in 1696, at the age of 53, he was already a well-established scientist.

A report he produced in 1717 helped to establish gold coin as the pre-eminent currency of the UK, paving the way for the introduction of the "gold standard".

The 50p coin has been designed by Aaron West, one of the Mint's team of graphic designers.

Jannette Warrener, operations manager at Woolsthorpe Manor, National Trust, said: "This is the perfect way to celebrate the 375th anniversary of Isaac Newton.

"We are forging a link between two of the places that played an important role in his life - Woolsthorpe Manor, where he was born but also where he achieved some his most notable and world-changing scientific thinking, and the Royal Mint, where he spent much of his working life."

PA