The Calculus Controversy or lack thereof

Throughout the seventeenth century and into the eighteenth century, there was a widely publicized controversy involving two great mathematicians; the German, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, and Englishmen, Sir Issac Newton. For over a century England and Germany argued over which homesung hero had indeed discovered calculus. What both nations refused to admit, however, was that niether of the two thinkers truly invented calculus. For the act of discovering or inventing anything is a pain-staking process …

…that is mathematics. Although a pathetic controversy threatened the general impact of their discoveries, the two intellectuals will always have a firm place in mathematics and intellectual history. The great thinkers of our time are all linked by the common bond of advancing our culture. Although Newton and Leibniz alone did not discover calculus, they did however, create additional stepping stones furthering society’s pursuit of the unknown; for that we should be forever thankful.