Leonhard Euler h2>
Born: 15 April 1707 in Basel, Switzerland p>
Died: 18 Sept 1783 in St Petersburg, Russia p>
Leonhard Euler's father was Paul Euler. Paul Euler had
studied theology at the University of Basel and had attended Jacob Bernoulli's
lectures there. In fact Paul Euler and Johann Bernoulli had both lived in Jacob
Bernoulli's house while undergraduates at Basel. Paul Euler became a Protestant
minister and married Margaret Brucker, the daughter of another Protestant
minister. Their son Leonhard Euler was born in Basel, but the family moved to
Riehen when he was one year old and it was in Riehen, not far from Basel, that
Leonard was brought up. Paul Euler had, as we have mentioned, some mathematical
training and he was able to teach his son elementary mathematics along with
other subjects. p>
Leonhard was sent to school in Basel and during this
time he lived with his grandmother on his mother's side. This school was a
rather poor one, by all accounts, and Euler learnt no mathematics at all from
the school. However his interest in mathematics had certainly been sparked by
his father's teaching, and he read mathematics texts on his own and took some
private lessons. Euler's father wanted his son to follow him into the church
and sent him to the University of Basel to prepare for the ministry. He entered
the University in 1720, at the age of 14, first to obtain a general education
before going on to more advanced studies. Johann Bernoulli soon discovered
Euler's great potential for mathematics in private tuition that Euler himself
engineered. Euler's own account given in his unpublished autobiographical
writings, see, is as follows: - p>
... I soon found an opportunity to be introduced to a
famous professor Johann Bernoulli. ... True, he was very busy and so refused
flatly to give me private lessons; but he gave me much more valuable advice to
start reading more difficult mathematical books on my own and to study them as
diligently as I could; if I came across some obstacle or difficulty, I was
given permission to visit him freely every Sunday afternoon and he kindly
explained to me everything I could not understand ... p>
In 1723 Euler completed his Master's degree in
philosophy having compared and contrasted the philosophical ideas of Descartes
and Newton. He began his study of theology in the autumn of 1723, following his
father's wishes, but, although he was to be a devout Christian all his life, he
could not find the enthusiasm for the study of theology, Greek and Hebrew that
he found in mathematics. Euler obtained his father's consent to change to
mathematics after Johann Bernoulli had used his persuasion. The fact that Euler's
father had been a friend of Johann Bernoulli's in their undergraduate days
undoubtedly made the task of persuasion much easier. p>
Euler completed his studies at the University of Basel
in 1726. He had studied many mathematical works during his time in Basel, and
Calinger has reconstructed many of the works that Euler read with the advice of
Johann Bernoulli. They include works by Varignon, Descartes, Newton, Galileo,
von Schooten, Jacob Bernoulli, Hermann, Taylor and Wallis. By 1726 Euler had
already a paper in print, a short article on isochronous curves in a resisting
medium. In 1727 he published another article on reciprocal trajectories and
submitted an entry for the 1727 Grand Prize of the Paris Academy on the best
arrangement of masts on a ship. p>
The Prize of 1727 went to Bouguer, an expert on
mathematics relating to ships, but Euler's essay won him second place which was
a fine achievement for the young graduate. However, Euler now had to find
himself an academic appointment and when Nicolaus (II) Bernoulli died in St
Petersburg in July 1726 creating a vacancy there, Euler was offered the post
which would involve him in teaching applications of mathematics and mechanics
to physiology. He accepted the post in November 1726 but stated that he did not
want to travel to Russia until the spring of the following year. He had two
reasons to delay. He wanted time to study the topics relating to his new post
but also he had a chance of a post at the University of Basel since the
professor of physics there had died. Euler wrote an article on acoustics, which
went on to become a classic, in his bid for selection to the post but he was
nor chosen to go forward to the stage where lots were drawn to make the final
decision on who would fill the chair. Almost certainly his youth (he was 19 at
the time) was against him. However Calinger suggests: - p>
This decision ultimately benefited Euler, because it
forced him to move from a small republic into a setting more adequate for his
brilliant research and technological work. p>
As soon as he knew he would not be appointed to the
chair of physics, Euler left Basel on 5 April 1727. He travelled down the Rhine
by boat, crossed the German states by post wagon, then by boat from L