leibniz

The Priority Dispute

The roots of this dispute can be traced back to the time of Leibniz's first visit to London at the beginning of 1673 when he was accused by J. Pell of plagiarizing F. Regnauld. When, during his second visit to London at the end of 1676, J. Collins allowed him to peruse unpublished manuscript papers of J. Gregory and I. Newton, the ground was prepared for the subsequent famous and notorious accusations of plagiarism by the English.

Among the mathematicians grouped around the (later) President of the Royal Society, I. Newton, the impression was prevalent that the Leibnizian infinitesimal calculus had developed from a recasting of results first obtained in England. This also seemed to suggest itself from the fact that the publication of this calculus first followed nearly a decade after his visit to London. The successes of Leibniz, extolled in early years in correspondence with the Secretary of the Royal Society, were surely nothing other than proclamations without a substantial background, as was apparently the case also with his promises regarding the calculating machine.

Historical facts however provide a different picture. On the one hand Gregory and Newton had developed their analysis a decade before Leibniz's discovery of the infinitesimal calculus; on the other hand the calculus Leibniz developed in Paris is a totally independent development. This is revealed by the manuscript collections of writings and letters of the antagonists (today freely accessible to all interested parties). Since Leibniz published his results before Newton, he was acclaimed as sole discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus until the triumph of the Continental calculus provoked the English to openly object. Following the inevitable complaint of its member Leibniz, the Royal Society set up a committee of inquiry (the so-called Keill Commission), which in 1712 reached the conclusion that Leibniz had indeed rightly been accused of plagiarism of the English. The committee's report, together with the procured depositions and Newton's accompanying remarks, was published just a year later under the title: Commercium epistolicum D. Johannis Collins et aliorum de analysi promota. Accordingly the separate existence of the mutually incompatible English method of fluxions and the Continental infinitesimal calculus, that would last for decades, was established.

Further reading:   A. R. Hall, Philosophers at war. The quarrel between Newton and Leibniz. (Cambridge,1980).

back to: Leibniz´ life and work

top

waterloostraße 8
30169 hannover
tel. +49 511 1267-0
fax +49 511 1267-202
information@gwlb.de


öffnungszeiten der bibliothek:
mo–fr 9:00–19:00
sa 10:00–15:00

öffnungszeiten der leihstelle:
mo, di, do, fr 9:00–19:00
mi 10:00–19:00
sa 10:00–15:00

a–z der gwlb

wegbeschreibung

impressum