Newton was a physicist, mathematician, dodgy theologian, alchemist, and politician. He tended to wait yonks before publishing anything (especially after a massive argument with Hooke about priority in some matter or other - I forget), and so disputed priority on many subjects with many people. In particular, there is still no universal consensus as to whether Newton or Leibnitz? first invented differential and integral calculus.
In Newton's day, one had to sign the ThirtyNineArticles? to be a Fellow? at a University. This was a problem for him, because he was an Arian and thus a heretic. He used his friends in high places (Barrow? in particular, IIRC) to obtain a ruling from the King that a Fellowship was not required to hold the LucasianChair?, and then secured the chair as the successor to Barrow?, its first holder.
It is less well known that Newton became MasterOfTheMint?, and did much to modernise it, and even less well known that he was at one point an MP. In those days, the two Universities each had an MP. (Members of the Universities were represented by two MPs: a constituency one and a University one). Newton was elected MP for CambridgeUniversity, and spent a few years in the HouseOfCommons, during which he spoke only once: feeling the cold, he requested that a window be closed.
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Newton