XKCD has done a strip on the conflict of calculus invention.

Most stories of calculus (but wikipedia does a very nice history) tend to forget all the work done by the ancient and medieval mathematicians (not to mention the foreigners) and skip straight away into the Newton vs Leibniz conflict.

The problem was that Newton didn’t publish his work so when Leibniz figured out a system for the calculus of infinitesimals he was accused of plagiarism by Newton. The petty academic discussion continued for a while and Leibniz was apparently very hurt the great man’s accusations.

The image at the end with Newton in shades is a perfect example of the man who was a bit of a diva.