Harold Hyte & Spencer Allen GOTTFRIED WILHELM Computer Science 1010 Dr. Yvon, Section 2 VON LEIBNIZ 9/25/2015 PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY Born in 1646 in Leipzig, Germany Attended law school at the University of Leipzig at 15 ­ Left Leipzig for Nurnburg because he couldn’t get a degree ­ Dissertation earned him a doctor’s degree of law immediately on his arrival Constructed a calculating machine and presented it to the Royal Society of England ­ For financial support Contributed to the basics of integral and differentiable calculus ­ Pursued many other areas such as Philosophy and Religion as well ­ Leibniz’s Notation involved limits CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMPUTER SCIENCE Formulated theory that all information could be reduced to an ordered combination of elements such as numbers Used a binary number system, algorithmic information, and feedback ­ Relationship between computation and information ­ Using outputs of a function as inputs Calculating machine presented to the Royal Society ­ Predecessor to Alan Turing’s mathematical machine ­ Execute all 4 mathematical operations, but could not carry numbers ­ Notes to create machine to perform algebraic operations ­ Designed other machines to integrate equations and create ciphers Imagined a machine with binary numbers and marbles that used punch cards ­ Modern computers replace the components but run essentially as he originally envisioned IMPACTS IN THE FIELD One of the first computer scientists ­ Without him, Computer Science may not exist today Created the basic calculator ­ Could perform equations, but could not retain information One of the first to realize the importance of the binary number system ­ Made mathematical operations significantly easier SOURCES http://www.britannica.com/biography/ Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz http://edge.org/discourse/ schirrmacher_eurotech.html http://history-computer.com/Dreamers/ Leibniz.html .