Acta Eruditorum

Timeline

1. 1682Leipzig · LeipzigLeipzig University professor Otto Mencke founded the monthly with Saxon court patronage, printed and issued by Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, entirely in Latin. The first issue already carried extracts or short pieces by Boyle, Leeuwenhoek and Leibniz, aiming to bring French and English book reviews into the German-speaking world.
2. 1684–1686Leipzig · LeipzigThe October 1684 issue printed Leibniz's Nova methodus pro maximis et minimis, first public appearance of differential notation and algorithms; over the following years he also discussed integration and quadrature of curves in the journal. It thus became the main printed channel through which calculus entered European scholarly public discourse.
3. 1687–1700Leipzig · LeipzigBy the late 17th century the journal had settled into a monthly volume of reviews and papers, with Bernoulli, Tschirnhaus and others publishing in it. It made Leipzig a relay point between the German-speaking world and the scholarly circles of Paris and London; the Mencke family's editorial control continued into the early 18th century, and the journal's scholarly reputation was established in this period.