Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)

While working as lawyer, diplomat, and librarian, Leibniz pursued mathematics as passionate avocation - and revolutionized it. His calculus development, independent of Newton, produced notation superior enough to become today's standard.

Beyond calculus, he designed mechanical calculators performing multiplication and division, developed binary arithmetic underlying all digital computing, and advanced mathematical logic anticipating 20th-century developments. Philosophically, he proposed pre-established harmony governing reality and a monad-based metaphysical system attempting to reconcile science with religion through reason. Voltaire satirized his optimism in Candide, but Leibniz's actual arguments proved far more sophisticated. He died in 1716, his final projects unpublished and unrecognized. The intellectual world eventually caught up.