Priority

[flexibeast]

New research has found that a group of scholars in south-west India identified infinite series centuries before Leibniz and Newton. Infinite series are an important component of calculus, the discovery (from the mathematical Platonist perspective) or invention of which was the subject of much controversy in the 17th century. Isaac Newton claimed that he discovered it first under the name 'fluxions'; Gottfried Leibniz, who called it 'calculus', begged to differ. The dispute developed nationalist overtones, with some people supporting either Leibniz or Newton based not on the evidence but on their own national sympathies. Eventually the Royal Society of London established an inquiry into the matter, and produced a report in which it declared Newton should be given priority. This conclusion was no surprise, however, given that Newton himself wrote the committee report. :-P Wikipedia has an article describing the details of the sorry saga. It was a fairly ugly affair in the history of science, and stands in stark contrast to the story of what happened when Alfred Russel Wallace¹ and Charles Darwin independently developed the theory of evolution by natural selection: in an act of grace that is characteristic of Darwin, he agreed to Wallace's essay on the matter being presented to the Linnean Society of London with a rider noting Darwin's priority.

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1. Wallace's other main claim to fame was his discovery of the Wallace line in South-East Asia.
 

Comments

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

Well, as happyevilslosh points out below, Newton did actually come up with it first, he just wasn't particularly forthcoming about his work; but it's now agreed that Leibniz at least came up with it independently of Newton, rather than the former having pilfered it from the latter (which, iiuc, was an accusation made at the time). And anyway, people now use Leibniz' notation for calculus rather than Newton's, so perhaps Newton's priority is somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory . . . .