Mathematicians
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
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German polymath, philosopher and mathematician who developed differential and integral calculus while in Paris between 1672 and 1676, independently of Isaac Newton's earlier but then-unpublished work. On 21 November 1675 Leibniz first wrote the integral sign, the elongated S still used today (from the Latin summa), and by autumn 1676 he had derived the power rule for differentiation; he published his method in 1684 (Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis) and the integral sign first appeared in print in 1686. Leibniz's notation, not Newton's, is the one still taught. He also built one of the first mechanical calculating machines, the Stepped Reckoner, capable of all four arithmetic operations, and demonstrated an incomplete version to the Royal Society in London in January 1673. Beyond mathematics he made major contributions to logic, metaphysics (the theory of monads) and, in an idea centuries ahead of its practical use, the binary number system.
Facts
BirthplaceLeipzig, Saxony (now Germany) 1 Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionIndependent co-invention of calculus (1672-1676), with the notation (the integral sign, dy/dx) that became the subject's permanent working language; the Stepped Reckoner calculating machine; foundational work in formal logic and the binary number system. 1 Notable WorkNova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis (1684); the Stepped Reckoner calculating machine, demonstrated incomplete to the Royal Society, January 1673 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Independent co-discoverer; his dy/dx notation is the one most in use today.
In Branch
Proofs Credited
Why this is disputed. Developed independently in Paris, 1672-1676, published first (1684); Newton's earlier but then-unpublished work is the other, genuinely disputed side of an unresolved historical priority dispute.
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and StatisticsAssociated With: Limit, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Leibniz/Quote, Associated With: Limit, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Leibniz/
Leibniz never thought of the derivative as a limit. This does not appear until the work of d'Alembert.
Integral (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Integral, lead paragraphQuote, Associated With: Integral, lead paragraph
The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
Integral (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Analysis, lead paragraphQuote, Associated With: Analysis, lead paragraph
The major advance in integration came in the 17th century with the independent discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus by Leibniz and Newton.
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationProofs Credited: Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, History sectionQuote, Proofs Credited: Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, History section
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) systematized the knowledge into a calculus for infinitesimal quantities.
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