Offering 2024–035

a realization -

Leibniz got there first
but Newton enjoyed better marketing

— —

While today’s offering refers to the controversy over who invented calculus, its roots can be found in a crisis in self-confidence about the following phrase: ‘flashes of brilliance in a realm of mediocrity’.

Confused? Read on.

Isaac Newton probably needs no introduction, but Gottfied Wilhelm Leibniz isn’t exactly a household name. While scholars have established that both men simultaneously invented calculus independently of one another, Newton got the credit. Why? First, there were more English-speakers in the world than German-speakers. Second, Leibniz made a bad career move (at least for every occupation other than rock and roll singer) and died meaning he could no longer defend his interests.

So there I sat the other day thinking about something to write for this space while in a bit of a hurry and I remembered a phrase that I’ve used for years. I decided it was as good as time as any to put it down on paper (so to speak), but something shouting from the deep recesses of my mind bid me check the provenance of the statement. Since I value intellectual integrity, I turned to Google and typed in the phrase to see if had been used before. The answer?

Kind of. My Google search brought up a blog where someone used the following phrase:

‘flashes of brilliance in a sea of mediocrity’

This phrase, the tagline for someone’s blog, only appeared on one site, but it gave me enough pause to feel like I was a plagerizer, so I dropped the project… and several days later, pivoted to this one instead. No, I did not Google this one because I’m fairly certain it’s unique… which is the space that I want to be in.