MDMD2: The Learned English Dog

[Dave Monroe]

On 4/13/08, Henry <scuffling at gmail.com> wrote:

> For what it's worth Leibniz figures almost as prominently as does Newton in
> Neal Stephenson's rather decent-reading "The Baroque Cycle" trilogy.

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716)
German philosopher, mathematician and polymath who is the putative
inventor of the infinitesimal calculus (although he published his
system in 1684 and Isaac Newton in 1687, the Royal Society formally
declared for Newton in 1711). He also developed the doctrine of a
hierarchical system of irreducible, immaterial isolates called
"monads," the highest of which is God; "Summe, Summe, as Leibniz said"
300; "in the process of inventing calculus, used the same approach to
break up the trajectories of cannonballs through the air" 407;

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/l.html
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=L

   "'It--it's about the shape of the tunnels here, Master.'
   "'Don't flinch like that.  I based that design on the double
lightning-stroke, Hupla--the SS emblem.'
   "'But it's also a double-integral sign!  Did you know that?'
   "'Ah, yes; Summe, Summe, as Leibniz said. Well, isn't that--" (GR,
Pt. III, p. 300)

http://books.google.com/books?id=iPDGp7VT8H8C

"The fall was photographed by Askania cinetheodolite rigs on the
ground. In the daily rushes you would watch the frames at around 3000
feet, where the model broke through the speed of sound. There has been
this strange connection between the German mind and the rapid flashing
of successive stills to counterfeit movement, for at least two
centuries--since Leibniz, in the process of inventing calculus, used
the same approach to break up the trajectories of cannonballs through
the air." (GR, Pt.III, p. 407)

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/photos.html