Leibniz: A Diplomat's Secret Life in Math

    Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig back in 1646.

He did a lot of studying, like law, theology, philosophy, and

math at the university there. He even got his bachelor's degree

when he was just 17! At 20, he got his doctorate in law and

started working in the diplomatic world, traveling all over Europe for political things. He was all about preventing France from causing trouble in Germany and trying to make the Catholic

and Protestant churches get along.

    Now, when it comes to math, he didn't really dive into it until

1672 when he was in Paris for a diplomatic gig. There, he built

a cool calculating machine and met some scientists who got

him interested in the latest math and science stuff. He wanted

to make math easier, so he came up with a new way to write

down math problems and rules for finding derivatives. The

stuff we still use today!

    But here's where it gets a bit messy. In the 1690s, there was

this big argument about who invented calculus first. Some

folks followed Newton, others Leibniz. They even accused

Leibniz of copying stuff! Turns out, they both came up with it on

their own. Newton was first, but he kept it a secret for a while

because he didn't want drama. So, Leibniz's version from 1684

was published first.