Re: Truth (was Re: virus: Language)

Robin Faichney (robin@faichney.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 26 Mar 1998 20:28:13 +0000

Eric writes
>hey,
>
>Robin Faichney <robin@faichney.demon.co.uk> wrote
>> According to one of the books I'm reading right now,
>> Newton and Leibniz both invented calculus, independently.
>> The book is called "Newton: The Last Sorcerer", which
>> you might think significant. (By Michael White, highly
>> recommended, though not yet mentioned on website.)
>
>I know -- it is usually attrubuted to Newton, but in fact the notation that
>is used today was first introducted by Leibniz -- Newtons notations,
>apparently, was not nice. As to being the "last" sorcerer, I doubt it.
>Creativity is still a process that is little understood
...

I hear what you're saying here, but Newton was a sorcerer in a rather
more literal sense, eg alchemy. He was also a strange sort of
fundamentalist christian -- I mean, strange even for a fundy! Which is
interesting given that he's seen as one of the foundation-layers of
science.

-- 
Robin