Leonhard euler why was he famous

He viewed these three fields as intimately interconnected. Studies of number theory were vital to the foundations of calculus, and special functions and differential equations were essential to rational mechanics, which supplied concrete problems. The publication of many articles and his book Mechanica - 37 , which extensively presented Newtonian dynamics in the form of mathematical analysis for the first time, started Euler on the way to major mathematical work.

Euler's health problems began in when he had a severe fever and almost lost his life. However, he kept this news from his parents and members of the Bernoulli family back in Basel until he had recovered. In his autobiographical writings Euler says that his eyesight problems began in with overstrain due to his cartographic work and that by he had [ 24 ] However, Calinger in [ 24 ] argues that Euler's eyesight problems almost certainly started earlier and that the severe fever of was a symptom of the eyestrain.

He also argues that a portrait of Euler from suggests that by that stage the sight of his left eye was still good while that of his right eye was poor but not completely blind. Calinger suggests that Euler's left eye became blind from a later cataract rather than eyestrain. By Euler had a very high reputation, having won the Grand Prize of the Paris Academy in and On both occasions he shared the first prize with others. Euler's reputation was to bring an offer to go to Berlin, but at first he preferred to remain in St Petersburg.

However political turmoil in Russia made the position of foreigners particularly difficult and contributed to Euler changing his mind. Accepting an improved offer Euler, at the invitation of Frederick the Great, went to Berlin where an Academy of Science was planned to replace the Society of Sciences.

In a letter to a friend Euler wrote:- I can do just what I wish [ in my research ] The king calls me his professor, and I think I am the happiest man in the world.

Even while in Berlin Euler continued to receive part of his salary from Russia. For this remuneration he bought books and instruments for the St Petersburg Academy , he continued to write scientific reports for them, and he educated young Russians.

Maupertuis was the president of the Berlin Academy when it was founded in with Euler as director of mathematics. He deputised for Maupertuis in his absence and the two became great friends. Euler undertook an unbelievable amount of work for the Academy [ 1 ] The king also charged Euler with practical problems, such as the project in of correcting the level of the Finow Canal At that time he also supervised the work on pumps and pipes of the hydraulic system at Sans Souci, the royal summer residence.

This was not the limit of his duties by any means. He served on the committee of the Academy dealing with the library and of scientific publications. He served as an advisor to the government on state lotteries, insurance, annuities and pensions and artillery.

On top of this his scientific output during this period was phenomenal. During the twenty-five years spent in Berlin, Euler wrote around articles. He wrote books on the calculus of variations; on the calculation of planetary orbits; on artillery and ballistics extending the book by Robins ; on analysis; on shipbuilding and navigation; on the motion of the moon; lectures on the differential calculus; and a popular scientific publication Letters to a Princess of Germany 3 vols.

In Maupertuis died and Euler assumed the leadership of the Berlin Academy , although not the title of President. The king was in overall charge and Euler was not now on good terms with Frederick despite the early good favour. Euler, who had argued with d'Alembert on scientific matters, was disturbed when Frederick offered d'Alembert the presidency of the Academy in However d'Alembert refused to move to Berlin but Frederick's continued interference with the running of the Academy made Euler decide that the time had come to leave.

In Euler returned to St Petersburg and Frederick was greatly angered at his departure. Soon after his return to Russia, Euler became almost entirely blind after an illness. In his home was destroyed by fire and he was able to save only himself and his mathematical manuscripts. A cataract operation shortly after the fire, still in , restored his sight for a few days but Euler seems to have failed to take the necessary care of himself and he became totally blind.

Because of his remarkable memory he was able to continue with his work on optics, algebra, and lunar motion. Amazingly after his return to St Petersburg when Euler was 59 he produced almost half his total works despite the total blindness. Euler of course did not achieve this remarkable level of output without help. He was helped by his sons, Johann Albrecht Euler who was appointed to the chair of physics at the Academy in St Petersburg in becoming its secretary in and Christoph Euler who had a military career.

Fuss , who was Euler's grandson-in-law, became his assistant in Yushkevich writes in [ 1 ] For example Euler credits Albrecht, Krafft and Lexell for their help with his page work on the motion of the moon, published in Fuss helped Euler prepare over articles for publication over a period on about seven years in which he acted as Euler's assistant, including an important work on insurance which was published in Yushkevich describes the day of Euler's death in [ 1 ] :- On 18 September Euler spent the first half of the day as usual.

He gave a mathematics lesson to one of his grandchildren, did some calculations with chalk on two boards on the motion of balloons; then discussed with Lexell and Fuss the recently discovered planet Uranus. About five o'clock in the afternoon he suffered a brain haemorrhage and uttered only "I am dying" before he lost consciousness. He died about eleven o'clock in the evening. After his death in the St Petersburg Academy continued to publish Euler's unpublished work for nearly 50 more years.

Euler's work in mathematics is so vast that an article of this nature cannot but give a very superficial account of it. He was the most prolific writer of mathematics of all time. He made large bounds forward in the study of modern analytic geometry and trigonometry where he was the first to consider sin, cos etc.

He made decisive and formative contributions to geometry, calculus and number theory. In his free time he attended lectures on mathematics, which were read by Johann Bernoulli. Bernoulli quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics and started working with Euler - every Saturday he spent time with the professor's family and it had continued for several years.

Leonhard made friends with Bernoulli's sons — Daniel and Nicolaus, who studied physics and mathematics in-depth. The friendship with Bernoulli brothers predetermined further trajectory of Euler's life. The first meeting of the Academy took place in August , six months after the death of Peter the Great. It is because of Bernoulli brothers' favour, in Leonhard Euler also received an invitation to the Academy at Saint Petersburg. In the Academy Euler found comfortable facilities for the development of creative capacity: material security, opportunity to do his favorite job, ability to regularly publish his articles in a yearly journal.

Euler started his position as an adjunct of the Academy. In August the young scientist had already gave his first talk. In he became a professor of physics, and in was offered an important post in the mathematics department, which had earlier been occupied by Bernoulli before he came back to Switzerland. In the Academy received a task to do promptly very complicated and cumbersome astronomical calculations. A group of academicians needed three months to execute this work, as it required much time and energy.

Euler took matters into his own hands and did the calculations in three days, but the flow of information exhausted Leonhard to the bitter end — the scientist almost died of high fever and strong infection and, thus, it cost him his right eye.

In the political situation in Russia worsened. At this time, Frederick the Great of Prussia decided to resume the work of the Society of Sciences of the Elector of Brandenburg, which was established by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz as far back as Euler accepted the invitation and moved to Berlin in , where had been living for next twenty-five years.

The Academy was inaugurated on the birthday of Frederick the Great, on the 24th of January, Euler occupied the position of the director of the Mathematics Class and board member, and, after the death of its president, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, in , he, in fact, became the leader of Berlin-Brandenburg Academy and managed the institution by himself. During this period he originated lots of ideas and his productivity on many areas of study increased. Leonhard published his articles in Berlin as well as in St.

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