A closer look
Brilliant physicist Sir Isaac Newton lost his entire life savings by investing in the South Sea Company right before the massively overinflated British stock completely collapsed in 1720. Despite literally inventing calculus and discovering the fundamental laws of universal gravity, one of the smartest men in recorded human history was still foolish enough to buy back into a glaringly obvious speculative frenzy at the absolute peak of the market. He reportedly muttered that he could calculate the motions of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people, perfectly encapsulating the harsh reality that a genius intelligence quotient will not protect you from making incredibly stupid financial decisions driven by pure greed. Wall Street brokers absolutely love this historical anecdote because it proves that even the guy who mathematically defined the universe was essentially just another clueless retail trader getting absolutely wrecked by market manipulation
