Who came up with the concept of a differential equation and how/why?

Question 19 Outline: The first differential equation was proposed by Leibniz in 1675. The equation was written as xdx=12x2. Around the same time, Newton began searching for a method to solve three different differential equations. They were dydx=fx, dydx=fx,y, and xdudx+ydudx=u. From the numerous papers written by both Leibniz and Newton, the mathematical world began their quests to solving differential equations. Some have said that nearly all contributions to the solutions to differential equations were made during the Bernoulli dynasty. James Bernoulli had written a letter to Leibniz requesting an introduction to the new field. Through their contact James was able to create a method for integrating the homogeneous differential equation. The differential equation was created slowly, but its uses were grandiose. One of the problems that helped create the differential equation was the isochronous curve. This was a curve where a body was to fall with uniform vertical velocity despite the influence of gravity. Solving this problem James Bernoulli first introduced to the world the word integral. What was once calculus of sums was now called integral calculus. The problem xdy-ydx=0 led to the first idea of separation of variables, now used commonly today. This also led to the idea and solution of 1xdx, which had yet to be solved by this time. Later on Euler would come up with the integrating factor which would help to reduce second order equations to more solvable first order equations. Other important contributors include Lagrange, dAlembert, and Bessel. All of these people for the creation of the field of differential equations. Today a differential equation is used to model nearly every physical system that can be imagined. With differential equations you can find the position, velocity, acceleration, force, temperature at any point of a system, the states of a wave, the energy of a particle, etc. The reason it is so convenient to turn a physical system into a differential equation is because most physical principles depend on a change in one variable with respect to time or position. The equation F=ma, one of the most used equations in basic physics, can be written as F=m(d2x/dt2), a differential equation, where a is acceleration and (d2x/dt2) is the second derivative of position with respect to time (otherwise known as acceleration). It is this fact which makes math the language of physics.

http://www.math.ou.edu/~mleite/MATH3413_sp11pdf/ODE_History.pdf