The earliest attribution for the use of this metaphor cites a 12th–century bishop, Bernard of Chartres. His contemporary, John of Salisbury – a later Bishop of Chartres – wrote in 1159: "Bernard of Chartres used to compare us to dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants."
Isaac Newton, in a letter dating from 1675, wrote "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." This is the most familiar use of the metaphor in English.
That's unless you count the titles of Oasis's fourth studio album, released in the year 2000 (which bizarrely had "shoulder" singular), and the book written by Stephen Hawking and published in 2002, subtitled The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy.
Wikipedia has many other instances. It suggests that the metaphor may originate in stories from Greek mythology, of the giant Orion who carried his servant Cedalion on his shoulders to act as his eyes.
© Haydn Thompson 2020