On July 10, 1726, Nicolas died of appendicitis after spending a year in Russia, and when Daniel assumed his brother's position in the mathematics/physics division, he recommended that the post in physiology that he had vacated be filled by his friend Euler. Euler subsequently won this coveted annual prize twelve times in his career.Īround this time Johann Bernoulli's two sons, Daniel and Nicolas, were working at the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg. He won second place, losing only to Pierre Bouguer-who is now known as "the father of naval architecture". In 1727, he entered the Paris Academy Prize Problem competition, where the problem that year was to find the best way to place the masts on a ship. At that time, he was pursuing an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to obtain a position at the University of Basel. In 1726, Euler completed a dissertation on the propagation of sound with the title De Sono. Euler was at this point studying theology, Greek, and Hebrew at his father's urging, in order to become a pastor, but Bernoulli convinced Paul Euler that Leonhard was destined to become a great mathematician. At this time, he was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics. At the age of thirteen he enrolled at the University of Basel, and in 1723, received his Master of Philosophy with a dissertation that compared the philosophies of Descartes and Newton. Euler's early formal education started in Basel, where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother. Paul Euler was a friend of the Bernoulli family-Johann Bernoulli, who was then regarded as Europe's foremost mathematician, would eventually be the most important influence on young Leonhard. Soon after the birth of Leonhard, the Eulers moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, where Euler spent most of his childhood. He had two younger sisters named Anna Maria and Maria Magdalena. His mother was Marguerite Brucker, a pastor's daughter. Old Swiss 10 Franc banknote honoring EulerĮuler was born on Apin Basel to Paul Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church. He is also commemorated by the Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on 24 May – he was a devout Christian (and believer in biblical inerrancy) who wrote apologetics and argued forcefully against the prominent atheists of his time. The asteroid 2002 Euler was named in his honor. A statement attributed to Pierre-Simon Laplace expresses Euler's influence on mathematics: "Read Euler, read Euler, he is our teacher in all things," which has also been translated as "Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all."Įuler was featured on the sixth series of the Swiss 10-franc banknote and on numerous Swiss, German, and Russian postage stamps. He is also one of the most prolific his collected works fill 60–80 quarto volumes. He is considered to be the preeminent mathematician of the 18th century and arguably the greatest of all time. Petersburg, Russia and in Berlin, Prussia. He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, and astronomy.Įuler spent most of his adult life in St. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. Leonhard Euler (German pronunciation: 15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist.
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