Who Was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz?
Leibniz was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1646 to a Lutheran family. From a young age, he enjoyed reading texts from his father's library. Eventually, he went onto a formal education, including a law degree as well as a degree in Philosophy. He spent some time in Paris, which is the part of his life when he devoted most of his time and energy to mathematics. The advances Leibniz made in mathematics are especially impressive when considering his plethora of other interests. Leibniz dabbled in everything from history to mathematics to philosophy to politics and the law. Leibniz is most well known in Mathematics for developing differential and intergral calculus at around the same time as Newton did—although Newton often receives more credit. He is also credited with perfecting the binary, or base two, numerical system. His mathematical thinking and writings laid the foundation for many fields of study including topology, calculus and fractal geometery. Beyond his important contibutions to mathematics, he has also had some quite influential theological works. Over the course of his life, from his undergraduate thesis, De Principio Individui (“On the Principle of the Individual”), to his later works such as, De Rerum Originatione (“On the Ultimate Origin of Things”), he constantly proposed new ways of thinking of things while gracefully challenging the old ways. One such example can be found in his Meditationes de Cognitione, Veritate et Ideis (Reflections on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas) in which he contests Descartes’ ontological argument while providing his own. Of course, I tend to gravitate towards his mathematical and theological works, however, much of the later portion of his life was spent as a teacher and historian for the House of Brunswick, just another one of the many hats he wore [1].
