Leibniz and Adriatic Boatmen During Storm, 1689
In 1689 Leibniz was to the island of Mesola when a violent storm arose. The superstitious crew thought that Leibniz had caused it by displeasing God. They agreed to throw him overboard. Leibniz, who understood Italian, began praying. The crew to change their mind and Leibniz survived. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (July 1, 1646 - November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher. His mathematical notation has been widely used ever since it was published. He invented the Leibniz wheel, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator. He also refined the binary number system, which is at the foundation of virtually all digital computers. In philosophy, Leibniz is mostly noted for his optimism and along with Descartes and Spinoza, was one of the three great 17th century advocates of rationalism. The work of Leibniz anticipated modern logic and analytic philosophy, but his philosophy also looks back to the scholastic tradition, in which conclusions are produced by applying reason to first principles or prior definitions rather than to empirical evidence. Leibniz died, in 1716, at the age of 70. He was so out of favor that neither George I nor any fellow courtier other than his personal secretary attended the funeral. His grave went unmarked for more than 50 years.
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