I recently read a quote on "Quicksilver" (Stephenson's novel) about his imaginary character "Daniel Waterhouse":
"Daniel was angry with God. God had implanted on him a passion for natural philosophy. He wanted to be one of the greats. But God brought him on earth the same era with individuals like Hooke, Leibniz and Newton. What where the chances?"
At this point in the novel, only Daniel has a clear view on Newton's genius, Hooke was renowned and Leibniz was not into mathematics (he studied to lawyer first, then turned into mathematics according to the novel, but knowing Stephenson I think it's true).
Yeah yeah, Leibniz, Newton, Einstein and Wolfram. What a team!