Another distinguished pupil of Descartes who exercised a marked influence over him was the celebrated daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, Queen Christine of Sweden. A mistress of many languages and an ardent votary of science, she was a munificent patron of scientific men, a great number of whom she had attracted to her court. The most distinguished of these was Descartes, to whom she was deeply attached, and with whom she had planned great things for science in Sweden, when his career was cut short by a premature death. Not the least influence on the intellectual life of Leibnitz was Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia and mother of Frederick the Great. She was the niece of Descartes' illustrious friend, Elizabeth of Bohemia, and, as the pupil of Leibnitz, quite as gloriously associated as had been her aunt with the father of Cartesianism. Leibnitz was as distinguished by genius as his royal pupil was by birth. Besides being eminent as a philosopher and a statesman, he shared with Newton the honor of discovering the calculus. Huxley pronounced him "a man of science, in the modern sense, of the first rank," while the King of Prussia declared of him, "He represents in himself a whole academy." Through the cooperation of Sophia Charlotte he founded the Berlin Academy of Sciences. For her he wrote one of the most notable of his productions--his famed _Theodicy_. It would be difficult to estimate the influence of this learned queen on Leibnitz, but it was undoubtedly greater than any other single influence whatever. Her death was the greatest loss he ever suffered, and when she was no more, the beautiful Berlin suburb, Charlottenburg--named after her--where he had been so happy in reading and philosophizing with his illustrious pupil, lost all attraction for him. A more striking illustration of woman's helpfulness is afforded in the case of Francois Huber, the celebrated Swiss naturalist. Although blind from his seventeenth year, he was able to carry on researches requiring the keenest eyesight and the closest observation. This he was able to do through the affectionate cooperation of his devoted wife, Marie Aimee. When her friends tried to dissuade her from marrying Huber, to whom she had been engaged for some time, saying he had become blind, her reply was worthy of her generous and noble nature: "He then needs me more than ever."