Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

German philosopher and mathematician

1646 – 1716 · 70 years · Hanover · Europe

Invented calculus independently of Newton and developed binary arithmetic. Advised Peter the Great on founding an Academy of Sciences.

Portrait: Christoph Bernhard Francke · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Isaac Newton — English physicist and mathematician, 3 years older
Louis XIV — King of France, the Sun King, 8 years older
Johann Sebastian Bach — German composer and organist, 39 years younger
Rembrandt — Dutch painter, 40 years older
Voltaire — French Enlightenment writer, 48 years younger
Leopold I — emperor under whom Vienna was saved from the Turks and Hungary retaken, 6 years older

Peter the Great — first Emperor of Russia, 26 years younger
Vitus Bering — Danish explorer in Russian service, 35 years younger
Catherine I — first Russian empress, widow of Peter the Great, 38 years younger
Alexis the Most Quiet — tsar of the 1649 Law Code and the church schism, 17 years older
Anna — empress who tore up the Conditions; era of Biron's dominance, 47 years younger
Feodor III — tsar who abolished the precedence system (mestnichestvo), 15 years younger

Ahmed III — sultan of the 'Tulip Era', 27 years younger
Nader Shah — Shah of Iran and conqueror, 42 years younger
Ahmed II — sultan who lost the Battle of Slankamen, 3 years older
Mehmed IV the Hunter — sultan of the Köprülü era and the siege of Vienna, 4 years older
Suleiman II — sultan who retook Belgrade after 39 years in the 'cage', 4 years older
Mustafa II — sultan who signed the Treaty of Karlowitz, 18 years younger

Kangxi Emperor — Qing emperor of China, 8 years younger
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi — the 'Dog Shogun' who outlawed cruelty to animals, born the same year
Aurangzeb — Mughal emperor, 28 years older
Matsuo Bashō — Japanese poet, 2 years older
Shivaji — founder of the Maratha state, 16 years older
Tokugawa Yoshimune — reforming shogun who allowed Western books, 38 years younger