Calculus...

A romp through the history of calculus

Isaac Newton (left) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently invented calculus and liked big wigs. (Left, DeAgostini/Getty; Right, Lombard/ullstein bild via Getty)

Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both “died in excruciating pain while suffering from calculi — a bladder stone for Newton, a kidney stone for Leibniz”. It was a cruelly ironic end for the scientists who independently invented calculus: the word comes from the Latin for ‘small stone’, in reference to pebbles once used for counting. Such fascinating anecdotes abound in Infinite Powers, a new book by mathematician Steven Strogatz.

Nature | 5 min read