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[[Image:Leibniz.jpg|thumb|right|Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz]]
[[Image:Leibniz.jpg|thumb|right|Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz]]
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German mathematician, philosopher and political advisor. His greatest achievement was his independent discovery of differential and integral calculus, also invented by [[Isaac Newton]]. Leibniz was the first to use the notation of the integral.
'''Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz''' (1646-1716) was a German mathematician, philosopher and political advisor. His greatest achievement was his independent discovery of differential and integral calculus, also invented by [[Isaac Newton]]. Leibniz was the first to use the notation of the integral.
In philosophy, Leibniz disagreed with Descartes' "I think there for I am" and instead Leibniz thought that neither form alone (the mind) or matter alone (the body) could explain the existence of an individual. Instead, Leibniz created a philosophy known as "monadology", which holds that souls are all there are in the universe. Even a table, according to Leibniz, is nothing other than a collection of "windowless monads" which cannot interact. This doctrine of non-interacting souls is abhorrent to traditional Christianity.
In philosophy, Leibniz disagreed with Descartes' "I think there for I am" and instead Leibniz thought that neither form alone (the mind) or matter alone (the body) could explain the existence of an individual. Instead, Leibniz created a philosophy known as "monadology", which holds that souls are all there are in the universe. Even a table, according to Leibniz, is nothing other than a collection of "windowless monads" which cannot interact. This doctrine of non-interacting souls is abhorrent to traditional Christianity.
An ugly dispute developed between Newton and Leibniz over who discovered calculus first. Most English-speaking historians give the credit to Newton but bias may play a role in that. The world certainly benefited immensely from Leibniz as well as Newton.
An ugly dispute developed between Newton and Leibniz over who discovered calculus first. Most English-speaking historians give the credit to Newton but bias may play a role in that. The world certainly benefited immensely from Leibniz as well as Newton.
[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:Mathematicians|Leibniz, Gottfried]]