Leibniz: The collection and library is the only reliable and indelible record of mankind

Leibniz (1646-1716), a famous scholar in German history, was a mathematician, physicist, historian and philosopher. He was a rare wizard and all-rounder, and he achieved success in a variety of disciplines, including natural sciences and philosophy. He independently invented calculus with Newton in England, he was the founder of mathematical logic, and the "binary" widely used in the current computer age is also his first. He was a super heavyweight in world history, and Russell called him "a wise man of the ages."

Leibniz was born in 1646 in leipzig, a famous city in eastern Germany, the father of a professor of philosophy, although his death was very early, but left Leibniz with a rich collection of books, and his mother succeeded his father to carry out leibniz's enlightenment education. At the age of eight, Leibniz entered the Nikolai School, where he studied Latin, Greek, rhetoric, arithmetic, logic, music, the Bible, Lutheran teachings, and so on. To learn so much homework, it seems that the burden on German students was heavy enough.

At the age of 15 he entered the University of Leipzig and began extensive study in various subject areas. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the age of 17 and a master's degree in philosophy at the age of 18. At the age of 19, he submitted his doctoral dissertation, "On Identity," to the school. Reluctantly, the school's degree review committee refused to award Leibniz a doctorate on the grounds that he was too young. In a fit of rage, Leibniz took his thesis to the University of Altdorf in Nuremberg. Altdorf University not only awarded him a doctorate in law, but also wanted to hire him as a professor at the university. Leibniz accepted a degree but did not accept a teaching position, and his greater interest was not in teaching but in politics.

In 1667, Leibniz became acquainted with the Elector of Mainz and engaged in diplomacy under Archbishop Schönborne of Mainz. Elector is a special title in German history, referring to the princes who are eligible to elect and be elected Holy Roman Emperor and German King, a total of seven, somewhat similar to the Chinese Warring States Seven Heroes. But three of Germany's seven electors were ecclesiastical electors, and Mainz was one of the ecclesiastical electors.

Leibniz's diplomatic activities mostly failed, including a mission to France in 1671 and to England in 1673. But "lost diplomacy, harvested learning", the invention of calculus should be his major gain at that stage. After the death of the Elector of Mainz, leibniz came to Hanover in 1677 at the invitation of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Hanover, to serve as legal adviser to the Duchy of Brunswick and head of the history of the Brentsvik family, as well as as the director of the library of the Ducal Palace.

In 1682, he founded the famous Latin scientific journal Academic Chronicle, in which his own mathematical and scientific papers were published. He is also quite creative in philosophy, and the phrase "no two leaves in the world are exactly the same" is one of his philosophical sayings.

In 1700, under Leibniz's campaign, the new Prussian Kingdom established the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and Leibniz became the first president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. This was an epoch-making event in the history of German scientific development, which laid the initial foundation for Germany's leading position in science and technology in the world.

Leibniz was not confined to national borders, and the establishment of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and the Vienna Academy of Sciences was also the result of his advocacy. It is said that he also wrote a letter to the Kangxi Emperor of China through missionaries proposing the establishment of the Beijing Academy of Sciences, but unfortunately did not receive the "grace" of the Kangxi Emperor. Leibniz was one of the earliest Western scholars interested in Chinese culture, and his "binary" is said to have been invented inspired by the I Ching.

Leibniz not only advocated the establishment of the Academy of Sciences, he also proposed to the Austrian Emperor a grand plan to establish a "world library" in Vienna, although the proposal was not adopted, but it can also be seen that the library has a place in Leibniz's mind.

He famously said: "In all fields of knowledge, the greater part of human knowledge is presented on pages and in books as written records of mankind... Therefore, the collection of books and libraries are the only reliable and indelible records of mankind. "As for the director of the Library of the Dukedom of Brunzvik, it should not be an important position, and I have not seen any materials describing Leibniz's specific actions in the position of librarian, but in the era of "degeneration is the state", the Ducal Palace Library can also be counted as the National Library.