The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time

By Jason Socrates Bardi

Book Overview

Now regarded as the bane of many college students' existence, calculus was one of the most important mathematical innovations of the seventeenth century. But a dispute over its discovery sewed the seeds of discontent between two of the greatest scientific giants of all time -- Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Today Newton and Leibniz are generally considered the twin independent inventors of calculus, and they are both credited with giving mathematics its greatest push forward since the time of the Greeks. Had they known each other under different circumstances, they might have been friends. But in their own lifetimes, the joint glory of calculus was not enough for either and each declared war against the other, openly and in secret. This long and bitter dispute has been swept under the carpet by historians -- perhaps because it reveals Newton and Leibniz in their worst light -- but The Calculus Wars tells the full story in narrative form for the first time. This vibrant and gripping scientific potboiler ultimately exposes how these twin mathematical giants were brilliant, proud, at times mad and, in the end, completely human.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560259922
• ISBN13: 9781560259923
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Great insights

I really enjoyed this book and found it offered a great many wonderful tidbits to fill in my understanding of the issues. My most recent previous reading on Leibniz was the wonderful book "The Courtier and the Heretic," which covers Leibniz' interrelationship with Spinoza and the two books fit nicely together. It is clear from Bardi's book that there are many more wonderful possibilities out there many of which have been available for years - a book relating Huygens and Leibniz for example. Perhaps this is one of the most wonderful aspects of a book like this. It points to many sources to explore if one is interested in following up. This book clearly details how the situation got so mixed up and why it will forever remain an embarrassment to those who value the advance of reason and wish human frailties would not create so many bumps on the path. I did not check these reviews before picking up the book and (not plagiarizing them but independently noting them myself!) found the sheer number of editorial mistakes annoying. One wants to send it back to have it corrected out of habit. These are the sorts of mistakes Word doesn't let happen. I bet I could not even reproduce many of them here without Word automatically correcting them. But I agree this seems to be the editors fault not Bardi's since even if they were Bardi's the editor should have easily caught them. But I myself have seen multiple errors magically appear in a published text that were not there in the original. Perhaps the paperback is corrected? I did not see any mention of this on Bardi's web page either. But I have a major point to question concerning Bardi's view that Leibniz's vortex argument has been disposed of by Newton's gravity. Would not Einstein's view of the curvature of space achieve essentially the same explanation of Leibniz'? in short, though the short history following the controversy seemed to make Newton's position on gravity the winner (not as an explanation of movements) hasn't more recent history at least shown both theories useful for different purposes and therefore both correct in context? Perhaps my understanding of this issue is wrong? After all, in the short introduction to the Principia in "On the Shoulders of Giants" edited with commentary by Stephen Hawking he seems to suggest the same thing. What gives? What happened to Relativity?

This is a good read!

I thorougly enjoyed this book. I was not aware of the history of Newton and Leibnitz, and so this was a new subject for me. I really feel that in history classes we should read books like this, because it really opens up mathematics. I am going for phD later this year, and so I am starting to review my mathematics textbooks, such as discrete mathematics and calculus. Reading about the extraordinary men that created calculus and battled over it, made calculus seem to me like a living thing, and actually I am looking forward to reviewing my calculus textbook! On the other hand, if you aren't a science geek, this book is still a good read, because it also gives us psychological insights into two brilliant men and the time period in which they lived.

A Most Interesting Piece of History

I loved this book! The author has recounted a fascinating tale about the war that ultimately ensued between Newton and Leibniz as to which one of the two was the first to discover calculus. The author complements his captivating account with highlights of the personal lives of these two individuals, as well as the pertinent politics and daily life in seventeenth and early eighteenth century Europe. The writing style is simple, friendly and quite engaging. At first, I hesitated to buy this book, despite my love for the subject matter, because of the less than positive early reviews that it was getting. These reviews seemed to dwell mainly on the book's poor editing. Later reviews seemed more forgiving in that regard and, thus, generally more positive. So, I bought the book, read it and absolutely loved it. I do agree that the many editorial errors, although they don't occur on every page, can be rather annoying and even downright confusing at times. Such errors include word repetitions, misprints, wrong verb tenses, occasional missing words, wrong word order, bad punctuation, etc. It is for that reason alone, i.e., poor editing, that I gave it merely four stars because as far as the subject matter, the writing style and the intense interest that this book generates, it is very easily five-star material. This book should be of particular interest to math, science and history buffs alike.

A Well-Told, If Narrow, Tale

As Mr. Bardi points out in his book The Calculus Wars, most modern historians of science agree that Sir Isaac Newton (the great English scientist) and Gottfried Leibniz (the great German philosopher) each discovered the calculus independently. It is also generally accepted that, though Newton discovered the calculus many years before Leibniz, Leibniz published first and continued to work on the development of the subject long after Newton had moved on to other pursuits. And therein lies a tale. The battle between Newton and Leibniz over the "credit" for discovering calculus is one of the great intellectual priority fights in the history of science. It is fascinating for many reasons but first among these must be for the insights it provides into the personalities of two mathematical geniuses: Newton's hypersensitive and introverted nature versus Leibniz's unflinching pursuit of truth as he perceived it in the face of all obstacles. Place on top of this the fact that this fight wasn't picked until they were both in the twilight of their careers, the fact that distance and slow communication made determining what's what more difficult and the fact that, in many ways, this was a reflection of England versus the Continent and you have a war well-joined indeed. As a physicist and teacher, I was well aware of this conflict but Mr. Bardi has done a very good job of bringing out its details. The only thing I would caution readers of is that Mr. Bardi generally stays very close to his topic. What I mean is that he only provides biographical details that are germane to his story. Being very familiar with these two characters from other reading, I was clear on most of the situations he describes. Those less familiar with the people involved may have more trouble. Still, if Newton and Leibniz are personalities that interest you, this is a lively telling of a pivotal and often lost part of their lives.

Better then these reviews

I knew nothing about the subject and after seeing a display about the controversy at a library; I thought I would like to learn more about the subject. It's true there are typographical errors, but as to the content, for a layman like me, I thought the book presented a great overview of the subject with many interesting tangents. In fact, while I was reading it, I made a little list of other topics I'd like to learn more about as well. I think that's a sign of a good book. To me, the tone of the writing was similar to a good PBS documentary- comfortable and knowledgeable.