Another Boring Rant

Dear Lilybee, at last you are not alone. It would seem I have been able to inadvertantly pre-empt another fine thinker (although in a rather embarrasing fashion)...

Yet - speaking to everyone now - the incident in which I suggested to someone that they could move interstate to avoid me and then I recieved an email from them in another state (!!!) has prompted some thinking. Do great minds really think alike (or fools seldom differ) or is coincinence to blame in the majority of said circumstances?

The topic came up again while I was taking lunch with an esteemed colleague one one of the more well known streets of Melbournes inner south; I don't know how, but we got onto the topic of the Calculus dispute.

Please forgive me in advance for boring all the non mathematical historians out there, I chose to spend a significant amount of time at university researching this topic for a paper on conroversy in the history of science (unfortunately so did about three others... again, coincidence??) But to those who may (for some odd reason) be interested in this matter but know precious little about it... In a nutshell, Leibniz published founding works on calculus many years ago. Sir Isaac Newton published his own work on 'fluxions' six years later and claimed that Leibniz had seen his notes and effectively stolen his ideas.

Of some mathematical note... the notation and terminology we use in modern mathematics is predominantly that of Leibniz although many people would credit Newton with the invention of calculus (even though he invented fluxions - OK, same thing, pretty much anyway)

It is very unlikely in the eyes of the scientific community that a man as well respected and renowned as Sir Issaac Newton would have stolen the ideas of Leibniz, but surely we must respect Leibniz claim to priority considering the six year time gap.

The question that plagues many historians is that of whether or not it is plausible that both men invented the same concept at about the same time.

I am interested in your thoughts on the matter, from anyone.