Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The Polymath Who Brought Us Calculus PDF
Preview Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The Polymath Who Brought Us Calculus
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz The Polymath Who Brought Us Calculus M. B. W. Tent © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Cover images: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, courtesy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek, Niedersäschische Lan- desbibliothek, Hannover; Leibniz’s Staffelwalze (his mechanical calculator), courtesy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek, Niedersäschische Landesbibliothek, Hannover; medal celebrating Leibniz’s invention of binary arithmetic, photograph by the author; photograph of the author by Mary Gray Hunter. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Version Date: 2011906 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4398-9224-4 (eBook - PDF) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the valid- ity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including pho- tocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com (http:// www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC To Joanna Cragin Tent, Who came to life at the same time as this book. May Joanna come to enjoy mathematics as she grows up! © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Table of Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii Figure Credits xvii Family Trees xix Timeline of Events xxiii 1 A Brilliant Child 1 2 A Student at the Universities of Leipzig and Jena 25 3 Dr. Leibniz Begins His Career 45 4 Paris, London, and Mathematics 71 5 Librarian and Councilor to Duke Johann Friedrich of Hannover 111 6 Councilor and Librarian to Duke Ernst August 131 7 Writing and Not Writing the History 169 8 Court Historian to Elector Georg Ludwig 191 9 Alone in Hannover 219 Index 229 vii © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Preface I n constructing this story of Gottfried Wilhelm Leib- niz’s life, I was able to take advantage of his written works, but I found relatively little specific information on Leibniz himself, with all his foibles and charms. Consequently this story is partially fabrication based on the information available. Some of the letters that I quote are rough translations, while others are sim- ply constructions based on the facts available. The dialogues are all fabrication, but again they are based on the historical record on Leibniz and his life experi- ences. My goal was to present Leibniz as a real person so that the reader can gain an appreciation of his phe- nomenal genius. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German who lived from 1646 to 1716, discovered the calculus by 1675. Isaac Newton, an Englishman who lived from 1643 to 1727, had already discovered his method of fluxions and fluents (analysis that is similar to the calculus) a decade earlier during his annus mirabilis (1664–1665). ix © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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