GOTTFRIEDWilhelm Leibniz was aGerman philosopher, inventor and mathematician laid the foundations for the modern day calculator and computer.
Leibniz was born on July 1, 1646 in Leipzig and lived to be 70 years old and his birthday has been celebrated by a Google Doodle.
Alamy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made the foundations for the modern day computer
Who was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz?
Leibniz was one of the most brilliant minds of his age and became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators, building on Pacal's calculator and he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685.
He designed the Leibniz wheel, used in the arithmometer, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator.
Liebniz also refined the binary number system, the foundation of virtually all modern-day computers.
He wrote works on philosophy, politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology.
Archimedes, a mathematician in ancient Greece, first came up with an algorithm to calculate pi around 250 BC with the formula refined and improved by mathematicians in China and India.
Leibniz is credited as stating the first modern formula for pi.
His parents were Friedrich Leibniz and Catharina Schmuck.
He wrote his doctorate at the Leipzig University before enrolling at the University of Altdorf and passed his Doctorate in Law in November 1666.
Despite his brilliant mind he spent his final years cut out of the intellectual world after John Keill accused him of plagiarising Isaac Newton's work on calculus.
Google Google is honouring the German mathematician and philosopher with a Google Doodle
Even though he was a member of both the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy of Sciences neither body bothered to honour his death in 1716.
His grave went unmarked for more than 50 years.
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What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
Among the Doodles published in 2018 were ones commemorating cartographer Abraham Ortelius, Egyptian actor Omar Sharif and St Patrick's Day.
Earlier in the year, the search giant celebrated the Paralympics in 2018 in Pyeongchang with an animated design celebrating each of the sports the winter Paralympians will compete in.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born on July 1, 1646, in Leipzig, Germany toward the end of the devastating Thirty Years’ War. His father, a Professor of Moral Philosophy, died when he was six years old, and he was raised by his mother. After his father’s death, Leibniz inherited his extensive library, which is where his ideas began to take shape. Leibniz’s life was defined by academics: He has his undergraduate in philosophy by the age of 15, achieved a masters degree the next year, and was awarded his bachelor’s degree in law at the age of 17 after only one year of studies.
His philosophical writings consist mainly of journal articles, manuscripts published long after his death, and many letters to many correspondents. Through his life, Leibniz’s most notable accomplishment is considered to be his conception of the ideas of differential and integral calculus independently and simultaneously with Isaac Newton's similar conceptions. In 1676, Isaac Newton accused him of having seen his unpublished work on calculus. There was alleged to be evidence to prove that Leibniz stole calculus from Newton.
Getty / Google Google doodle: Today's doodle is written in binary in tribute to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Mathematicians have come to favour Leibniz’s notation as the conventional expression of calculus, while Newton’s became unused. Leibniz’s later years were plagued by these accusations of plagiarism, a period known as the 'calculus priory dispute'. By the time of his death in Hanover 1716, aged 70, he had fallen out of favour in society, including amongst British Royalty, with whom he has ties. Even though Leibniz was a life member of the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy of Sciences, neither organisation saw fit to honour his death.
Getty Google doodle: Leibniz's house in Hannover, Germany
His grave went unmarked for more than 50 years. Historians of mathematics writing since 1900 or so have tended to acquit Leibniz, pointing to important differences between Leibniz's and Newton's versions of calculus. In 1900, British philosopher Bertrand Russell published a critical study of Leibniz's metaphysics, making his ideas respectable to a modern audience. In 1985, it seemed Leibniz had finally redeemed himself, when the German government created the Leibniz Prize, offering an annual award euros for experimental and theoretical projects.
Getty Google doodle: The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitat Hannover
Today’s Google Doodle marks the 372nd birthday of German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who lived from 1646 to 1716.
An academic with many strings to his bow, he was both intellectually brilliant and also no stranger to controversy.
His work on the binary code paved the way for some of today’s modern technology – primarily, the computer.
He was born on 1 July 1646 in Leipzig, Germany, and started his intellectual journey young. His mother raised him with a devotion to his education.
Having inherited the library of his father, who had been a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Leipzig but died when his son was just six years old, Leibniz had access to lots of books on philosophy and theology from an age when other children were still reading fairy tales.
The writings in Latin helped him pick up the language by the age of 12. When he was 14, the smart youngster enrolled at the same university his father had taught at, he completed his bachelor’s degree in philosophy aged 15, gained a master’s degree a year later and then an undergraduate degree in law a year after that.
He wrote his first book called De Arte Combinatoria (On the Combinatorial Art) at the age of 19.
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32/101 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google 33/101 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google 34/101 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google 35/101 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google 36/101 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google 37/101 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google 38/101 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google 39/101 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google 40/101 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google 41/101 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google 42/101 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google 43/101 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google 44/101 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google 45/101 Wimbledon Championship 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Nasa's Cassini probe Google 55/101 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google 56/101 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google 57/101 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google 58/101 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google 59/101 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 60/101 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google 61/101 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google 62/101 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google 63/101 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google 64/101 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google 65/101 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday 66/101 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday 67/101 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday 68/101 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK 69/101 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall 70/101 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016 71/101 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday 72/101 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day 73/101 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday 74/101 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day 75/101 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday 76/101 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 77/101 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google 78/101 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google 79/101 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March 80/101 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google 81/101 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday 82/101 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March 83/101 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 84/101 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 85/101 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 86/101 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 87/101 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 88/101 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 89/101 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 90/101 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 91/101 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 92/101 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 93/101 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 94/101 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 95/101 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 96/101 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 97/101 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 98/101 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 99/101 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world 100/101 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September 101/101 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries
One of his greatest claims to fame is developing the binary system, which consists of 1s and 0s and is at the core of modern computing.
Ancient cultures had previously used their own binary systems and Leibniz was particularly inspired by the Chinese I Ching, recognising the country’s mathematical advancement.
He wrote Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire (Explanation of Binary Arithmetic (1703) on the subject.
His achievements in the world of mathematics, included developing differential calculus and integral calculus.
During his time, he met many great minds including Galileo, Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, but not all his relationships were positive.
He had a sort of rivalry with Isaac Newton – an argument between them over who first invented and wrote about calculus, the mathematical study of change, raged for years.
Newton accused him of stealing ideas based on his unpublished works, in a battle that gained notoriety in the academic world and was something that would hang over Leibniz for years.
Able to write in Latin and French, as well as German, Leibniz wrote a number of, essays, journal articles and manuscripts, much of which were published long after his death. He wrote on topics including mathematics, metaphysics, philosophy, politics, logic and ethics.
In the world of philosophy, one of his writings argues God created “the best of all possible worlds” – a theory which is explored in ‘Théodicée’. He also took interest in multiple other subjects such as medicine, technology, physics and geology.
He also worked as a political adviser, working with multiple rulers of the House of Brunswick.
When he died in Hanover in 1706 his grave was unmarked for 50 years as he had fallen out with both the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
Years after his death, he would regain some of the reputation that he had lost, after his works were made more publicly available.
The Leibniz Prize was created in his name in Germany in 1985 to help outstanding scientists and academics further their research. It pays out a maximum of €2.5 million per award
The Google Doodle honouring him today says "Google" in binary code.
Google
Sunday's Google Doodle celebrates the 372nd birthday of mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. He was born near the end of the Thirty Years War, into a world very different from today's, but his work helped lay the foundation for the computer or smartphone on which you're reading this article.
Working independently but at around the same time as Isaac Newton, Leibniz developed differential calculus, a type of mathematics used to calculate rates of change, and integral calculus, a type of mathematics used to calculate things like area and volume. Because Leibniz and Newton were both members of the Royal Society in London, it's likely they would have heard of each other's work even though they weren't collaborating. Leibniz was the first to publish, in 1684; Newton followed nine years later in 1693. But a few years later, the Royal Society - with Newton as its newly-installed president - accused Leibniz of plagiarizing Newton's work. The two mathematicians had used different ways of writing calculus down, however, and Leibniz's version is still used today - so in a way, he had the last word as well as the first.
Leibniz also developed the binary system, whose notation of zeroes and ones is the basis of modern computer languages. His book, Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire, credited the ancient Chinese divination manual, the I Ching, with inspiring the binary system of zeroes and ones, since the I Ching's hexagrams use a very similar notation to record numbers. In an age of European ethnocentrism, Leibniz still recognized China's long-standing mathematical advancement. He also drew on the work of European mathematicians who had already invented their own systems of binary notation, but he refined and simplified those systems into the modern form of binary. And he wrote about logical properties that would be very familiar to modern information theorists and computer programmers - even if it's written in ink on parchment, as Sunday's Google Doodle depicts.
