Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Leipzig

The son of a philosophy professor; he taught himself Latin as a child.

💡 Did you know? Leibniz was born in Leipzig in 1646 and as a child taught himself Latin from his father's library.

universal genius

Philosopher, mathematician, lawyer, historian, diplomat, engineer: often all at once.

💡 Did you know? Leibniz was a mathematician, philosopher, lawyer, diplomat and inventor all at once: a universal genius in the truest sense.

calculus

The priority dispute with Newton became the most bitter in the history of science: Leibniz's notation with ∫ and 'd' prevailed.

💡 Did you know? The notation of calculus still used today (with ∫ and dx) comes from Leibniz, not from his rival Newton.

the binary system

He even saw in it an image of creation: 1 as God, 0 as nothingness.

💡 Did you know? Leibniz described computing with only zeros and ones; the basis of every computer today, over 250 years before they were invented.

a calculating machine

Using the stepped drum he invented: he tinkered for decades on working models.

💡 Did you know? His calculating machine was one of the first to handle all four basic operations, including multiplication and division.

monads

Their interplay is governed by a God-given 'pre-established harmony': set out in the 'Monadology'.

💡 Did you know? For Leibniz the world consists of countless „monads“: indivisible, „windowless“ soul-units that nevertheless work together perfectly.

best of all possible worlds

God knew all possible worlds and chose the best: evil is its necessary shadow.

💡 Did you know? God, he held, created the best of all conceivable worlds: even if it contains evil, as a whole it is the best.

Voltaire

After the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 the 'best of all worlds' seemed untenable: Dr Pangloss caricatures Leibniz.

💡 Did you know? Voltaire mocked this optimism bitingly in „Candide“; the character Pangloss is a caricature of Leibniz.

Hanover

Charged with the endless history of the princely house: which he never finished.

💡 Did you know? For four decades Leibniz served at the court of Hanover: where he laboured over a huge, never-finished history.

Theodicy

The only major philosophical work he published himself (1710): the term became a technical concept.

💡 Did you know? The „Theodicy“ seeks to justify God in the face of the world's suffering: Leibniz coined the term.

the Berlin Academy

Founded in 1700 at his instigation: 'theoria cum praxi' was his motto.

💡 Did you know? Leibniz was the first president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, which he helped to found.

almost no one came

The court ignored the inconvenient scholar: today a university and a biscuit bear his name.

💡 Did you know? The Leibniz biscuit is so called because the Bahlsen factory stands in Leibniz's Hanover.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German universal genius: philosopher, co-founder of calculus and forerunner of the binary system of computers.

💡 Did you know? Despite his achievements, few followed his coffin in 1716: he died largely forgotten.