People / Mathematicians
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

PI IN THE SKY Who was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? German mathematician and philosopher’s 372nd birthday marked by Google Doodle Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is credited with creating the first modern formula for calculating pi

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PI IN THE SKY Who was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? German mathematician and philosopher’s 372nd birthday marked by Google Doodle Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is credited with creating the first modern formula for calculating pi By Jon Rogers 1st July 2018, 9:51 amUpdated: 1st July 2018, 9:51 am GOTTFRIEDWilhelm Leibniz was aGerman philosopher, inventor and mathematician laid the foundations for the modern day calculator and computer. Leibniz was born on July 1, 1646 in Leipzig and lived to be 70 years old and his birthday has been celebrated by a Google Doodle. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made the foundations for the modern day computerALAMY Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made the foundations for the modern day computer Who was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? Leibniz was one of the most brilliant minds of his age and became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators, building on Pacal's calculator and he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685. He designed the Leibniz wheel, used in the arithmometer, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator. Liebniz also refined the binary number system, the foundation of virtually all modern-day computers. He wrote works on philosophy, politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology. Archimedes, a mathematician in ancient Greece, first came up with an algorithm to calculate pi around 250 BC with the formula refined and improved by mathematicians in China and India. Leibniz is credited as stating the first modern formula for pi. His parents were Friedrich Leibniz and Catharina Schmuck. He wrote his doctorate at the Leipzig University before enrolling at the University of Altdorf and passed his Doctorate in Law in November 1666. Despite his brilliant mind he spent his final years cut out of the intellectual world after John Keill accused him of plagiarising Isaac Newton's work on calculus. Google is honouring the German mathematician and philosopher with a Google DoodleGOOGLE Google is honouring the German mathematician and philosopher with a Google Doodle Even though he was a member of both the Royal Society and the Berlin Academy of Sciences neither body bothered to honour his death in 1716. His grave went unmarked for more than 50 years.