Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born at 6.45 PM on Sunday 1 July (NS) 1646 in the Protestant city of Leipzig, which had been a prominent seat of German learning and science since the Renaissance. His father, Friedrich, was a Professor of Moral Philosophy and Vice Chairman of the faculty of philosophy in the University of Leipzig, besides being in practice as a notary. Leibniz devoted himself to books in an early age and was soon familiar with Suarez, the Church fathers and Aristotle's logic.

In 1661 Leibniz entered the University of Leipzig, where he studied philosophy, mathematics and law. The most significant teachers were philosopher Jacob Thomasius who founded the scientific study of philosophy in Germany and  mathematician Erhard Weigel, who taught in the University of Jena where Leibniz also studied in the summer semester of 1663.  He was refused a dissertation in Leipzig (possibly because of  his age or because of the malice of the Dean's wife) and he matriculated in the faculty of law in the University of Altdorf, situated in Nürnberg.

Leibniz refused an offer of professorship in the University of Altdorf and planned to set out to travel the first stop being Holland. In Mainz, however, he met Elector Johann Philip von Schönborn , who appointed him to his court as a judge in the High Court of Appeal and as an assistant to the Court Asessor Hermann Andreas Lasser, who was improving the Roman Civil Code for the needs of the state.  This nomination did not take place without some stir - a young Protestant of 24 years old was nominated to a high post in all-Catholic Mainz.  Leibniz settled in Frankfurt am Main.

Before Mainz Leibniz had already found a patron and friend in the distinguished statesman Baron Johann Christian von Boineburg, who had acted as a minister to Schönborn, until a french intrigue led to his dismissal in 1664.  Among other duties Leibniz acted as a secretary, assistant, librarian and adviser for Boineburg. He also had a chance to occupy himself with politics : he wrote a pamphlet concerning the Polish succession to the throne among other things. The year of 1670 saw Boineburg's and Leibniz's most ambitious undertaking, the Egyptian plan (Consilium Aegyptiacum), in which the King of France is persuaded to divert his aggression from Europe to east and against the heretics.

Leibniz was sent secrectly to promote the plan to the French court in early 1672. He was also obliged to look after Boineburgs son's education and upbringing in Paris.  The Egyptian plan was not very popular in French court - one main reason was that the political situation had already changed when England declared war against Holland and France joined in with the war.

The time in Paris was very useful, however, to Leibniz. He became acquainted with many great figures of science at the time, among others the Jansenist theologian Antoine Arnauld, the theologian and philosopher Nicholas Malebranche, the mathematician Christian Huygens and the physicist Edme Mariotte. In 1673 Leibniz visited London, where he promoted his ideas about calculus and calculating machine to Oldenburg, the secretary of the Royal Society and to Robert Boyle, the famous chemist. Leibniz was also elected to a member of the Royal Society in 19. 4. 1673.

Leibniz's calculating machine was an improvement to Pascal's machine, since it could perform four basic arithmetical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) whereas Pascal's machine was able only to perform addition and subtraction. Leibniz was never able to craft his machine absolutely secure. He had also other technical projects during his time in Paris, such as a device, which could give a definition of a ship's geographical position without a compass, a plan of an underwater vessel and a kind of a tank propelled by gunpowder. Leibniz considered also the possibilities of space flights but rejected the plan due to thinness of air.

Then both Schönborn and Boineburg died within a short period of time. Leibniz was bound to find a new patron elsewhere.  After trying in vain to obtain a nomination to French Academy he accepted an offer, which secured him a position in the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. The court of Johann Friedrich was the cultural center of North-Germany principalities at the time.  Leibniz had already entered into correspondence with the Duke about theological matters and received previous offers from him in 1673.  The situation was different then - now Leibniz was ready, though reclutant,  to enter to the service of the Duke.

Leibniz stayed in Paris for another three years concentrating in the study of mathematics with the aid of Christian Huygens. His intensive work led to the idea of the infinitesimal calculus (integral and differential mathematics), which was discovered independently of Isaac Newton, who also stumbled into this novel arithmetics which was to mark a turning point in mathematics.

Leibniz's appointment to Hanover took place in January 1676.  He traveled there via Holland where he met Baruch Spinoza, among others. In Hanover Leibniz was first assigned to take care of the Duke's library and in 1677 he was nominated to a Privy Councilor especially in legal matters. The Duke was sympathetic towards Leibniz's many diverse plans and let him conduct a large correspondence with some of the most distinguished learned men of  his time. The court of Hanover was the cultural centre of North-Germany at the time.

Among other duties Leibniz was busy with chemistry and technical applications. He got assigned to improve the output of the mines of Harz by developing the power transmission and pump technique. The project turned out to be a lengthy one. After three years the Duke refused to finance the project any longer and Leibniz admitted his failure.

In 1679 the Duke died suddenly and was followed by his brother Ernst August, who was mainly interested about politics and did not have a very lively interest to scientific or literary matters. He was interested in the reunion of the churches, for example, but only on a political level, while his primary concern was the enhancement of the power and lustre of his House. Sophie, his wife, became Leibniz's friend and supporter and through her Leibniz was able to continue his scientific activities. Sophie's daughter Sophie Charlotte was also a dear friend and pupil of Leibniz's. Ernst August's main political goal was to strengthen Germany against the thread posed by French imperialism. At this time Leibniz wrote his famous political satire about Louis XIV called "Mars Christianissimus" or "Most Christian War-God" and the first systematic presentation of his philosophy, Discourse on Metaphysics, which he sent to Antoine Arnauld.

After the Harz-project Leibniz was assigned to write the history of the Guelfs (the ruling dynasty of Hanover) in 1685.  The project turned out to grow to such vast measurements that to complete the project it would require a whole academy instead of one man. The work never finished and got as far as the years 768-1005 by Leibniz's death.  Some good came out of the project : Leibniz did make progress in the field of criticism of sources and is now recognized as a pioneer in historical study. The goal of the work was to promote the Guelfs' aspirations to power - the rise to electorship and the ascendance to the English throne were realized during Leibniz's lifetime, although Leibniz's historical work did not have a great part in these develoments.

In order to get material for the work Leibniz traveled extensively in Southern Germany, Austria and Italy in 1687-90. He also made contacts with some of the leading theologians and Jesuits and discussed about the possibility of a church reunion. He was very interested of the methods used by Jesuits in China and discussed frequently with the famous missionaries Tolomei and Grimaldi.  Leibniz tried to meet Christina, the former queen of Sweden, but she died shortly after Leibniz's arrival to Rome. In Austria he made contacts in the court and managed to make an influence to Emperor Leopold I, but Leibniz's wishes to obtain a position in the imperial court were not realized.

After the journey Leibniz accepted a post as a librarian in the service of Duke Anton Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's library near Hanover in addition to his other duties, mainly because his work with the history of the Guelfs required a lot of his time in the library.

Ernst August died in 1698. The new Duke, Georg Ludwig, was even less interested in Leibniz's scientific accomplishments and plans. He saw in Leibniz a handy tool when he needed an odd memoir crafted for his dynastic aspirations.  Georg Ludwig was annoyed by Leibniz's constant traveling and other occupations.  The work with the history of the dynasty did not seem to progress at all. At this time Leibniz was also writing his commentary of John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which was eventually issued in 1765 as New Essays Concerning Human Understanding.

When Sophie Charlotte married the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick III, from 1701 the King of Prussia as Frederick I, Leibniz's travels between Berlin and Hanover increased. As the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1701, Hanover and Prussia had to face each other in opposite sides, which naturally made Leibniz's position even more troublesome.

In Berlin Leibniz was able to discuss philosophical questions in quite another extent than in the small provincial court circle of Hanover. One main reason for his sojourn in Berlin was also Sophie Charlotte, who supported Leibniz's plans in particular in the question of the church reunion and called upon Leibniz to visit her much more often than Duke Georg Ludwig allowed him to do. Leibniz also gained support for his plan of the Berlin Academy, which was founded in 1700.

At that time Georg Ludwig employed Leibniz in several tasks, which had to do with the English succession. The philosopher wrote many memoirs in favor of his master. Leibniz had also other employers : he performed several diplomatic missions for the Emperor and the Czar Peter The Great. Leibniz took interest in Russia after Peter came to the throne and tried (successfully) to persuade the Czar to realize some of his ambitious plans. Leibniz's undertakings in Vienna  did also produce some positive feedback. Leibniz  wrote his Theodicy at that time.

These successes did not help, however, when Georg Ludwig ascended to the English throne in 1714. At that time Leibniz was in Vienna, where he wrote the Monadology. By return to Hanover he found out that the Duke had left him in Hanover to finish the history of the Guelfs.  According to Nicholas Rescher, one of the main reasons for this was the priority dispute of the calculus against the Newtonians.  George Ludwig seems to have been fairly patient with Leibniz and tried to shelter him from the animosity of the court. It may have been the case that when landing on English soil he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. In the same year 1714 Leibniz lost one of his most faithful friends, Sophie of Hanover.

In the new situation Leibniz tried primarily to make progress with his historical work and hoped to follow Georg Ludwig (now George I) to England. The enterprise was pressed by the King's order that Leibniz should not be allowed to undertake any long journeys until the history was complete. Surprisingly, the King of France, Louis XIV had invited Leibniz to join in his court, but the opportunity failed when the Sun King died in 1715.

The last years of Leibniz were troubled by goat, which he had suffered from the age of fifty and arthritis. He died in the age of 70 on 14. November 1716, 10 p.m.  The funerals were very modest and only one mourner appeared : Leibniz assistant Eckhart.  Leibniz was in  disfavor  amongst the population of Hanover, who regarded Leibniz as an atheist. We will return to Leibniz's religious views later, but it might be interesting to learn that Leibniz's last words were not pious or repentant, but concerned with a trivial scientific matter.