Brief introduction to Leibniz’s life: On July 1, 1646 AD, Gottfried Wilhelm van Leibniz was born in a scholarly family in Leipzig, eastern Germany. His father was Friedrich. Desi Leibniz is a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Leipzig. His mother, Katharina Schmucker, was born in a family of professors and was a devout Lutheran.
Leibniz’s parents personally served as their children’s first teachers. Their influence made Leibniz very studious and highly talented since he was a child. He had a strong interest in poetry and history at an early age. Unfortunately, his father died when he was 6 years old, but he left him a rich collection of books.
Leibniz's father died when he was only six years old, leaving him a rich collection of books that were more valuable than money. His well-educated mother took on the responsibility of his son's early education. As a result, Leibniz had extensive exposure to ancient Greek and Roman culture and read the works of many famous scholars, thus gaining a solid cultural foundation and clear academic goals.
At the age of 8, Leibniz entered the Nicholas School and studied Latin, Greek, rhetoric, arithmetic, logic, music, the Bible, Lutheran doctrine, etc.
In 1661, the 15-year-old Leibniz entered the University of Leipzig to study law. As soon as he entered the school, he followed the standard humanities courses for sophomores. He also took the time to study philosophy and science. In May 1663, he received his bachelor's degree with the article "On the Metaphysical Disputes Concerning the Individual Principle". During this period, Leibniz also read extensively the works of Bacon, Kepler, Galileo and others, and conducted in-depth thinking and evaluation of their writings. After listening to a course on Euclid's "Elements" taught by a professor, Leibniz developed a strong interest in mathematics.
In January 1664, Leibniz completed the thesis "On the Difficulties of Jurisprudence" and received a master's degree in philosophy. On February 12 of that year, his mother unfortunately passed away. The 18-year-old Leibniz lived alone from then on. He was deeply influenced by his mother in his thoughts and personality throughout his life.
In 1665, Leibniz submitted his doctoral thesis "On Identity" to the University of Leipzig. In 1666, the review committee refused to grant him a doctorate in law because he was too young (only 20 years old). Geer believes that this may be because Leibniz has too many philosophical insights. The professors who reviewed the paper were very unhappy when they saw that he was vigorously studying philosophy. He was very angry about this, so he resolutely left Leipzig and went to Altdorf University near Nuremberg. He immediately submitted the doctoral thesis he had prepared to the school. In February 1667, Altdorf University awarded him a doctorate in law. degree and hired him as a law professor.
This year, Leibniz published his first mathematical paper "On the Art of Combination". This is an article about mathematical logic. The basic idea is to attribute the truth demonstration of the theory to the result of a calculation. Although this paper was not mature enough, it shone with innovative wisdom and mathematical talent. A series of subsequent works made him the founder of mathematical logic.
After receiving his doctorate in law in 1666, Leibniz joined a group of alchemists in Nuremberg. In 1667, through the group, he met the political figure John Christian, Baron Boynberg, and became acquainted with him. The baron recommended him to the Elector of Mainz. From then on, Leibniz entered the political arena and joined the diplomatic community, working under Archbishop Sch?nborn of Mainz.
In the winter of 1671 to 1672, he was entrusted by the Elector of Mainz to prepare to stop France's plan to attack Germany. In 1672, Leibniz went to Paris as a diplomat, trying to persuade French King Louis XIV to give up the offensive, but he was never able to meet with the French King, let alone complete the task assigned to him by the Elector. . This diplomatic activity ended in failure. However, during this period, he was deeply inspired by Huygens and determined to study higher mathematics. He also studied the works of Descartes, Fermat, Pascal and others, and began creative work.
In January 1673, in order to promote reconciliation between Britain and the Netherlands, he went to London to mediate but failed. However, he took this opportunity to establish contacts with well-known scholars in British academic circles. He met the mathematician Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Society, with whom he had corresponded for three years, as well as physicist Hooke, chemist Boyle and others. Leibniz returned to Paris in March 1673, and was recommended as a member of the Royal Society in April. During this period, his interests became increasingly evident in mathematics and the natural sciences.
In October 1672, the Elector of Mainz died. Leibniz lost his position and salary and became just a tutor. At that time, he sought a formal position as a diplomat or a position at the French Academy of Sciences, but without success. He had no choice but to accept the invitation of John Friedrich, Duke of Hanover, and go to Hanover.
On October 4, 1676, Leibniz left Paris. He first stayed briefly in London. Then he went to the Netherlands and met the biologist Leeuwenhoek who used a microscope to observe bacteria, protozoa and sperm for the first time. These had an impact on Leibniz's subsequent philosophical thoughts. In The Hague he met Spinoza.
In January 1677, Leibniz arrived in Hannover and served as legal advisor and library director of the Duke of Brunswick and historian of the Brunswick family. He was also responsible for international correspondence and served as a technical advisor. Hanover became his permanent residence.
In his spare time from busy official duties, Leibniz extensively studied philosophy and various scientific and technical issues, and was engaged in various academic, cultural and social and political activities. Soon, he became a member of the court, became famous in society, and lived a prosperous life. In 1682, Leibniz and Menke founded the Latin scientific journal "Accademia Sinica" (also known as "Journal of Teachers"), an influential Latin science magazine in the history of modern science. Most of his mathematics and philosophy articles were published in this magazine; this At that time, his philosophical thoughts gradually matured.
In December 1679, John Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick, died suddenly. His brother August succeeded to the title, but Leibniz still retained his original position. The new duchess Sophie is an admirer of his philosophical teachings. The famous saying "No two leaves in the world are exactly the same" came from his conversation with Sophie.
In order to realize his ambition to stand out throughout Germany, August suggested that Leibniz conduct extensive historical research and investigation and write a book about the modern history of their family. He began this work in 1686. After studying valuable local archival material, he requested an extensive tour of Europe.
In November 1687, Leibniz left Hannover and arrived in Vienna in May of the early summer of 1688. In addition to searching archives, he spent a lot of time getting to know scholars and celebrities from all walks of life. In Vienna, he met with the Austrian Emperor Leopold I and drew up a series of economic and scientific plans for the emperor, which left a deep impression on the emperor. He tried to seek a position in the Austrian court, but did not receive a positive answer until 1713, and his plan to ask ancient Austria to establish a "world library" never came to fruition. He then traveled to Venice and then to Rome. In Rome he was elected a member of the Roman Academy of Sciences and Mathematics. In 1690, Leibniz returned to Hannover. For his work in writing a history of the Brunswick family, he received a Privy Councilorship.
During the turn of the century in 1700, Leibniz was enthusiastically engaged in the planning and construction of the Academy of Sciences. He felt that it was a waste of time and ineffective for scholars to conduct research independently, so he strongly advocated concentrating talents to study academics, culture and engineering technology, so as to better arrange social production and guide national construction.
Since 1695, Leibniz has been traveling around and lobbying for the establishment of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. In 1698, he personally went to Berlin for this purpose. In 1700, when he visited Berlin for the second time, he finally received the sponsorship of Friedrich I, especially his wife (daughter of Duke August of Hanover), and established the Berlin Academy of Sciences, of which he served as the first president. In February 1700, he was also elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. At this point, the four major academies of science in the world at that time: the British Royal Society, the French Academy of Sciences, the Roman Academy of Sciences and Mathematics, and the Berlin Academy of Sciences all had Leibniz as a core member.
In early 1713, the Emperor of Vienna granted Leibniz the position of Imperial Advisor and invited him to guide the establishment of the Academy of Sciences. Peter the Great of Russia also listened to Leibniz's advice several times when he traveled to Europe from 1711 to 1716. Leibniz tried to convince the brilliant emperor of the value of establishing an Academy of Sciences in Petersburg. Peter the Great was interested, and in 1712 he gave Leibniz a salaried position as court adviser on mathematics and science. Around 1712, he was simultaneously employed by the royal families of Vienna, Brunswick, Berlin, and Petersburg. During this period, he actively advocated his plans to write an encyclopedia, establish an academy of science, and use technology to transform society whenever he had the opportunity. After his death, the Vienna Academy of Sciences and the Petersburg Academy of Sciences were established successively. It is said that he also advised Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty of China to establish the Academy of Sciences in Beijing through missionaries.
Just when Leibniz was favored by various courts, he had begun to approach his tragic old age. On November 14, 1716, after being bedridden for a week due to abdominal cramps caused by gallstones, Leibniz passed away lonely at the age of 70.
Leibniz never married or became a professor at a university. He never went to church, so he was nicknamed Lovenix, that is, the one who believes in nothing. When he died, the clergy used this as an excuse to ignore him, the court that had employed him did not care, and no one came to express condolences. When he was dying, the only people accompanying him were his trusted doctor and his secretary Eckhart. After Eckhart's obituary was issued, Foundenard, secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, delivered a eulogy to Leibniz, a foreign member, at the regular meeting of the Academy of Sciences. In 1793, Hanoverians built a monument to him; in 1883, a standing statue of him was erected near a church in Leipzig; in 1983, the Hanover city government rebuilt the "City of God" that was destroyed in World War II as it was. Leibniz's former residence" for people to pay their respects. Newton started from physics and used the set method to study calculus. Its application was more integrated with kinematics, and his attainments were higher than Leibniz's.
Leibniz started from geometric problems and used analytical methods to introduce the concept of calculus and derive operational rules. The rigor and systematicity of his mathematics were beyond the reach of Newton. There is no need to worry too much about the issue of placing names before and after you mentioned it. Maybe it is the habit of future generations.