When Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig in 1646, the scientific understanding of our world was still pretty manageable. It was still possible to perceive that one person could theoretically accumulate all the knowledge of the time, as it was written down in books.
People like Leibniz, who, after finishing his law degree with a PhD at the age of 21, went on to research as a historian, philosopher, linguist, physicist, mathematician and to do practical work as a librarian, mining-engineer, diplomat, political advisor and founder of what later became an academy. [...]
What is probably the most important heritage is the method of empiric research based on evidence. This is something we owe to the pioneers of enlightenment, like Leibniz: All progress made over the past three hundred years could not be envisaged without people like him. Scholars who pressed forward with open eyes and vigor, in a period of ignorance and superstition.
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