Historical Figure
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
b. 1646
German polymath (1646–1716)
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Biography
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist, and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many other branches of mathematics, such as binary arithmetic and statistics. Leibniz has been called the "last universal genius" due to his vast expertise across fields, which became a rarity after his lifetime with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the spread of specialized labour. He is a prominent figure in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics. He wrote works on philosophy, theology, ethics, politics, law, history, philology, games, music, and other studies. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics and computer science.
In Their Own Words (5)
Everything that is possible demands to exist.
De veritatibus primis (1686) , 1686
This miracle of analysis, this marvel of the world of ideas, an almost amphibian object between Being and Non-being that we call the .
Quoted in Singularités : individus et relations dans le système de Leibniz (2003) by Christiane Frémont , 2003
Although the whole of this life were said to be nothing but a dream and the physical world nothing but a phantasm, I should call this dream or phantasm real enough, if, using reason well, we were never deceived by it.
As quoted in The World of Mathematics (1956) by J. R. Newman, p. 1832 , 1956
Music is a hidden arithmetic exercise of the soul, which does not know that it is counting.
Letter to Christian Goldbach, April 17, 1712. , 1712
I am convinced that the unwritten knowledge scattered among men of different callings surpasses in quantity and in importance anything we find in books, and that the greater part of our wealth has yet to be recorded.
Discours touchant la méthode de la certitude et de l'art d'inventer pour finir les disputes et pour faire en peu de temps de grands progrès (1688–1690) , 1688
Timeline
The story of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, told in moments.
Wrote his first dissertation at 20. The University of Leipzig refused him a doctorate because of his age. He went to Altdorf, submitted the same work, and they gave it to him immediately.
Developed his version of calculus, independently of Newton. The notation he invented (dy/dx, the integral sign) is what every student still uses today. Newton's notation mostly isn't.
Began building a calculating machine that could multiply and divide. He dreamed of a universal language of logic that could settle all arguments by computation. He was 300 years early.
Published Theodicy, arguing this is "the best of all possible worlds." Voltaire spent the rest of the century mocking him for it through the character of Dr. Pangloss.
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