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Articles

Leibniz & the Big Bang

Eric Kincanon says that Leibniz could have predicted the Big Bang in 1715.

The German philosopher and scientist Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) is best known to the general public for his independent development of calculus and the letter he wrote to Princess Caroline of Sweden in 1715. In this letter he challenged Isaac Newton’s statements about absolute time and space, arguing that they were heretical. Leibniz and Newton were long-time adversaries before the writing of this letter, and Leibniz was probably motivated by revenge. Still, this should not be a reason to dismiss his arguments. In fact, two hundred years before Einstein, Leibniz was arguing that time and space could not be absolute.

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