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Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by benreesman on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @07:22PM (#37502965)
I have a dim notion that Sir Isaac also had quite the feud with Leibniz, is that also a wildly entertaining story like this one? And if so what’s the best telling?
Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by benreesman on Thursday September 14, 2023 @02:28AM (#37505650)
Awesome thank you for the links.

As an American English-speaker I think my ostensible tribal obligation is to call it a tie at worst and take Sir Isaac’s part by default, but Wikipedia seems to be going out of its way to avoid concluding that Leibniz got there first: I’m curious if Germans have a different view than us in the Empire or it’s former colonies.

It seems a tough case to make that Newton wasn’t the more influential thinker overall, but on Calc I-IV? Lot of claims about stuff that he “decided not to publish”.

Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by psychoslave on Thursday September 14, 2023 @03:57AM (#37506203)
Leibniz certainly has a profile closer to that of Thomas Young: a polymath with a name far less known to general public.
Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by bllguo on Thursday September 14, 2023 @03:05PM (#37513323)
Indeed. To add to this - first to develop or not, Leibniz published first, and Newton's shameless unfounded accusations against him cannot be reasonably defended. I don't see any pro-Newton arguments in this situation besides "tribal obligations" that you mention.

In the realm of calculus Leibniz is far more influential - his notation, for instance, is so superior that English mathematicians rejecting it arguably led to the stagnation of the field in England. And of course it is far more prevalent today.

Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by hermitcrab on Thursday September 14, 2023 @05:25PM (#37515058)
IIRC Newton also exploited his role as President of the Royal Society to attack Leibnitz. Just because he was a genius, doesn't mean that he wasn't also an arsehole. Maybe if he was was a more mellow and less driven, he wouldn't have been the genius he was.
Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by 3abiton on Thursday September 14, 2023 @04:33AM (#37506389)
Great references!
Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by denton-scratch on Thursday September 14, 2023 @11:15AM (#37510126)
I'm pretty sure I used to own a book called The Newton-Leibniz Correspondence, being a collection of letters. But my search-foo has failed to turn it up.
Re:Don’t Mess with a Genius by GreymanTheGrey on Thursday September 14, 2023 @09:32PM (#37517104)
Is it possible you were thinking of this book?https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9780719006692

Not quite the same thing, but has quite a few references to Newton contained within the pages. Perhaps enough to mix it up in your memory.