Newton and Leibniz

If you’ve ever studied calculus, perhaps you’d be interested in who you have to either thank or blame for the experience. The answer to the question is not quite as simple as it might seem, but is pretty fascinating, delving into the world of the 17th Century natural philosophers (the word scientist only came much later) such as Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. Wired has a brief post discussing Leibniz’s creation of the integral sign ∫. It’s pretty fascinating stuff, full of crazy characters (Robert Hooke is my favorite), mortal feuds and a transition period from the wild and wooly medieval view of the world to something much closer to our own view (though still deeply strange).