Portrait of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, German philosopher and mathematician, born in 1646 and died in 1716. He has been called the Aristotle of the 17th century due to his interest in all branches of knowledge. In 1671 Leibnitz invented a calculating machine that could multiply and divide as well as add and subtract and was the first to recognize the importance of the binary system of notation. He published a system of calculus in 1684.