Newton vs Leibniz
Meet Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, A German born polymath and philosopher, and one of the most influential mathematicians to ever live. He invented binary code, made a mechanical computer that wasn’t improved upon for well over a century, and most importantly in 1684 he published the first paper describing the new field of mathematics called “calculus” ushering in a new era of understanding and mathematical ability. This discovery, as far as can be determined through the lens of history, changed the very nature of our existence. But despite this impressive feat Leibniz died alone, shamed, and disgraced among many in the science community, thanks to something called the Newton-Leibniz controversy. As it turns out Leibniz wasn’t the only one who had come up with calculus, Newton (as in Isaac Newton) it seems had a dog in the fight. So what who cares? It should be said that without calculus modern society does not exist. It was the foundational math to modern physics, and essentially everything that came from our understanding of how to model the physical world, also owes its existence to calculus. To put it in simple terms calculus
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This paper highlighted a new method for finding the minima and maxima of different functions ( I use that word but at the time they did not necessarily use “functions” yet). News did not travel fast in the late 17th century, but this new idea caught on very quickly and in short time solidified Leibniz as one of the greatest mathematicians at the time. There were many critics, but by and large most saw the incredible value that his work had. No one at the time, and for 15 years afterword, doubted his achievement or questioned its authenticity (Hall). Not even Newton, so how then did this controversy come about if Newton and Leibniz seemed content? First we need to know a little more about