“the straight line is a curve, any part of which is similar to the whole”
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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist, and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many other branches of mathematics, such as binary arithmetic and statistics. Leibniz has been called the "last universal genius" due to his vast expertise across fields, which became a rarity after his lifetime with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the spread of specialized labour. He is a prominent figure in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics. He wrote works on philosophy, theology, ethics, politics, law, history, philology, games, music, economics and other studies. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics and computer science.
science · German polymath (1646–1716) · mathematician · jurist · physicist · philosopher · diplomat · historian · librarian · musicologist · translator · music theorist · also Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Freiherr Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Gottfried Leibniz
Born 21 June 1646 · Died 14 November 1716 · Q9047
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[...] if controversies were to arise, there would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two calculators. For it would suffice for them to take their pencils in their hands and to sit down at the abacus, and say to each other (and if they so wish also to a friend called to help): Let us calculate.
- Quote
20265 items
“can most simply be expressed by this series, that is, the aggregate of fractions alternately added and subtracted”
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“Why is there something rather than nothing? The sufficient reason ... is found in a substance which ... is a necessary being bearing the reason for its existence within itself.”
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“with all that comes to us according to his will”
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ArchDaily: Galería de Campus Georg-Eckert del Instituto Leibniz para Medios Educativos / Sehw Architektur - 1
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19991 item
When the ongoing historical-critical scholarly editing of the collected papers of Leibniz by the editorial project Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe ('Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Complete Writings
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19931 item
With the legal form of a registered association, and which continues the activities of the Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR ('Academy of Sciences of the GDR') with personnel continuity
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19881 item
Published The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque
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19852 items
The German government created the Leibniz Prize, offering an annual award of, as of 2025, €2
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It was reorganized and included in a joint program of German federal and state (Länder) academies
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19611 item
Norbert Wiener suggested that Leibniz should be considered the patron saint of cybernetics
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19601 item
Abraham Robinson worked out a rigorous foundation for Leibniz's infinitesimals, using model theory, in the context of a field of hyperreal numbers
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19062 items
And awarded previously by the Prussian Academy of Sciences and later the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin
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Garland published a volume of Leibniz's writings bearing on his many practical inventions and engineering work
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19011 item
And conducted by various editorial projects during that time, remains ongoing as of 2025, and is conducted by the editorial project Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe ('Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: C
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19003 items
Studied at Thomasschule zu Leipzig.
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Bertrand Russell published a critical study of Leibniz's metaphysics
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Career landmark: Geheimrat.
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When Bodemann completed his catalogue of Leibniz's manuscripts and correspondence, did the enormous extent of Leibniz's Nachlass ('literary estate') become clear: about 15,000 letters to more than 1000 recipients, and mo
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18751 item
“[...] if controversies were to arise, there would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two calculators. For it would suffice for them to take their pencils in their hands and to sit down at the abacus, and say to each other (and if they so wish also to a friend called to help): Let us calculate.”
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On the title page of his Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (Contributions on the Theory of Sensory Perception) and published a detailed and aspiring monograph on Leibniz
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17164 items
Died 1716-11-14.
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“Zarówno Leibniz jak i Bach to — każdy w swojej dziedzinie — geniusze syntezy oryginalnej i zadziwiającej. Obaj osiągnęli pełnię: wszechstronnie ukazali złożoną całość uprawianej przez siebie dziedziny; filozof pokazał czym jest i czym może być filozofia, kompozytor — czym jest i czym może być muzyka.”
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“Languages are the best mirror of the human mind [and] the most ancient monuments of peoples.”
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“Although the whole of this life were said to be nothing but a dream and the physical world nothing but a phantasm, I should call this dream or phantasm real enough, if, using reason well, we were never deceived by it.”
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Career landmark: Aulic Council (1713).
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Career landmark: court counsel (1678).
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Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1673).
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Studied at University of Altdorf (1666–1667).
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Studied at Leipzig University (1661–1666).
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16631 item
Studied at University of Jena (1663–1663).
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Studied at Alte Nikolaischule (Leipzig) (1653–1661).
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Born 1646-06-21.
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