Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Co-inventor of calculus, 1646-1716

Leibniz is often spelled Leibnitz, which shows the correct pronunciation in either case.
It is now generally agreed that Leibniz and Newton independently invented (or discovered, depending on your biases) the differential and integral calculus. Indeed, the argument about who first discovered calculus only arose late in their careers, thought it got rather nasty at that point. In fact, Newton probably was first, by about ten years, but kept his discoveries to himself, not publishing until after Leibniz had.

Leibniz's notation, which includes the familiar ,, and , has survived virtually unchanged over 300 years. Leibniz's notation is usually much more effective than Newton's. This was unfortunate for British mathematicians, who through loyalty to Newton used his notation. Some have argued that loyalty to one side of the controversy held British mathematics back quite a long while.

Leibniz, like others of his day, was for the most part unconcerned with rigorous mathematical questions like "What, exactly, is an infinitely small number that is not yet zero?". The new methods of calculus were so good at "getting the answers", answers that were verifiably true in most cases, that nobody worried about proving the method. As George F. Simmons puts it:

"In this headlong rush to exploit the wealth of applications of the new analysis, there was little interest in pausing to indulge in leisurely examinations of the basic ideas. This uncritical spirit prevailed throughout the eighteenth century, and it was not until the early decades of the nineteenth century that serious attention was given to the logical foundations of the subject" - Calculus Gems, Brief Lives and Memorable Mathematics, 1992 McGraw-Hill

Last Modified August 29, 2004.
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