Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , the True Inventor of Calculus

Born July 1st, 1646 in Leipzig, Germany, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz soon became known as a great philosopher, mathematician and physicist of his time. At the young age of six, his father died. Despite the tragedy, he continued the advancement of his education. With only twelve years of age, he managed to teach himself to read Latin, and by age thirteen, he took upon the challenge of improving Aristotle’s theory of categories. By age fourteen, he entered the Leipzig University were he focused his studies on law. Due to controversy, he did not receive his doctorate in law from Leipzig, but instead from the University of Altdorf. Following this achievement, he moved to Nuremberg and became involved in the German political spectrum. As a result of the patronage of his dear friend Baron Johann Christian von Boineburg, Leibniz served as the legal adviser to the Elector of Mainz. When he was not fulfilling his duties as an adviser, Leibniz took interest in Latin poetry and frequently studied Vergil and Plato’s works.

In 1672, Leibniz developed a strategic plan to distract Louis XIV away from Northern Europe with an appealing scheme for the conquest of Egypt. Subsequently, he was invited by Boineburg to travel to Paris and proposed it to the French government. There in Paris, nothing came of his plan, but he did receive the opportunity to study geometry with Huygens. He described this experience as one that “opened a new world to him.” Although he had already written various tracts on mathematics, this moment sparked a deeper concentration in the mathematics world.

In 1675 Leibniz invented infinitesimal calculus, which is differential calculus and integral calculus combined. He first published his system in 1684, while Newton invented his system for calculus in 1666 and published it in 1687. Although Leibniz developed his system independently of Newton, there was an extensive dispute about whether Leibniz truly discovered calculus independently of Newton or whether he had derived his ideas from Newton and simply invented a different notation. Today Leibniz along with Newton is acknowledged for discovering infinitesimal calculus, and the product rule in differential calculus is referred to as Leibniz’s Rule. The notation Leibniz used for calculus is still used today. Those symbols are “dx” for differentiation and “∫” for integration. Leibniz was also the first person to use a period for multiplication and “~” in geometry for similarity.

Although a large portion of his life was spent in controversy and dishonor due to the continuous argument over the true creator of calculus, Leibniz still contributed significantly to the world of philosophy, physics, and more importantly, to mathematics. He died in Hanover, Germany in 1716 with seventy years of age. Read more about Leibniz