Which scientist is credited with developing calculus?

• A. Copernicus
• B. Newton
• C. Galileo
• D. Kepler

Answer: (B)

Calculus was developed to rigorously analyze change and motion, giving us tools to measure instantaneous rates and to accumulate quantities over intervals. Isaac Newton is the scientist most closely associated with its development, creating his method of fluxions (what he called derivatives) and fluents (integrals) in the late 17th century to solve problems in motion and gravitation. His work showed how mathematics could describe how things change over time and how areas relate to rates of change, laying the groundwork for physics and celestial mechanics. The other figures listed are known for different breakthroughs: Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model, Galileo advanced experimental science and astronomy, and Kepler formulated laws of planetary motion. None of them developed calculus. (Leibniz also developed calculus independently, but he isn’t one of these names.) That makes Newton the best answer.