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Yes, I did. That's how I became interested in the great calculus invention controversy. Stephenson was writing an entertaining novel, but managed to incorporate a lot of historical fact. Here's an interesting link:
In any event, a bias favoring Newton tainted the whole affair from the outset. The Royal Society set up a committee to pronounce on the priority dispute, in response to a letter it had received from Leibniz. That committee never asked Leibniz to give his version of the events. The report of the committee, finding in favor of Newton, was written by Newton himself and published as "Commercium Epistolicum" (mentioned above) early in 1713. But Leibniz did not see it until the autumn of 1714.
Nice trick: Writing the report of the committee investigating yourself!
