His most celebrated is perhaps his Introductio in analysin infinitorum, which laid the foundations of mathematical analysis and introduced the notation for sin(x) and cos(x).ĭespite his outstanding academic record, he was passed for the position of President of the Berlin Academy, with Frederick taking the role instead. He would spend the next 25 years there in what was his most productive period, writing 380 works (of which 275 were published). Faced with mounting turmoil in Russia, he accepted, arriving in Berlin the following year. Work in Berlinīy 1740, Euler was renowned for his work and was personally offered a position at the University of Berlin by Frederick the Great of Prussia. Euler even once claimed to have made some of his best mathematical discoveries while holding a baby or with his children at his feet. They had 13 children, 5 of which survived childhood, and by all accounts were a happy and loving family. On 7 January 1734 he married Katharina Gsell, the daughter of painter Georg Gsell, who would remain his wife for 39 years until her death. Euler then took over the position, allowing him to get married. In 1733, Daniel Bernoulli left his post as the Senior Chair of mathematics in St Petersburg, due to censorship by the Russian Orthodox Church and disputes over his salary. It was only after he became a professor and therefore a full member of the academy that he was able to quit this venture. Petersburg, and alongside his teaching served as a medical lieutenant in the Russian Navy. He had been recommended by Johann Bernoulli’s son Daniel, after his brother Nicholas Bernoulli had sadly died 8 months after taking up the position.Īt Bernoulli’s behest, Euler was promoted to the mathematics department in St. Petersburg Academy in Russia, established by Peter the Great in 1724. Instead, he was offered a position at St. In 1723, Euler received his Master of Philosophy after submitting a dissertation comparing the philosophies of Descartes and Newton, and enrolled in the theological faculty of the university.Ĭontinuing his studies, he wrote a further dissertation on propagation of sound before applying for a position to teach physics at the university. In his autobiography, Euler later wrote: “the famous professor…made it a special pleasure for himself to help me along in the mathematical sciences”, and despite being too busy to give him private lessons, allowed the young boy to visit him every Saturday afternoon to go over difficulties in his reading.ĭuring this time, Euler was given his father’s permission to set aside the career of pastor and become a mathematician. There he took a course on elementary mathematics by Johann Bernoulli, the younger brother of Jacob Bernoulli. Image Credit: Bernoulli, Jean, 1667-1748, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Portrait of Bernoulli in volume I of his 1742 ‘Opera omnia’ At 8 years old, Leonhard was enrolled in the Latin school in Basel, and at 13 he enrolled in the University of Basel, not an uncommon practice at the time. Soon after his birth the family moved to the Swiss town of Riehen near Basel, where he spent most of his childhood with his three younger siblings.Īs a youth, Leonhard received schooling in mathematics from his father, who had taken courses from the prominent mathematician Jacob Bernoulli at the University of Basel while training to be a Protestant minister. His father, Paul III Euler, was a pastor of the Reformed Church, and his mother Marguerite Brucker belonged to a long line of well-known scholars in the classics. One of 18th century Europe’s brightest minds, Swiss physicist Leonhard Euler was a pioneering figure in the history of mathematics.Ī prominent figure in the growing universities of St Petersburg and Berlin, Euler’s contributions furthered the fields of geometry, trigonometry and calculus for decades, despite him going almost completely blind in later life.īut who exactly was Leonhard Euler? Early lifeĮuler was born in Basel, Switzerland on 15 April 1707.
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