Voltaire: How To Make Money, the Easy Way!

François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire, is perhaps best remembered as a foremost eighteenth-century European philosopher, writer, wit and liberal. What is perhaps less well known is that he also had a good head for money matters, and, along with the French explorer and geographer Charles Marie de La Condamine, managed to work the Parisian system and rake up a profit of nearly half a million francs, which left him independently wealthy for the rest of his long life. For the full story, read the recent Futility Closet blog post. Thanks goes to KC for highlighting this article.