Leonard Euler: Biography, Creativity, Career, Personal Life

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Leonard Euler: Biography, Creativity, Career, Personal Life
Leonard Euler: Biography, Creativity, Career, Personal Life

Video: Leonard Euler: Biography, Creativity, Career, Personal Life

Video: Leonard Euler: Biography, Creativity, Career, Personal Life
Video: Euler lost an eye to mathematics. 2024, March
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Theoretical mathematics, its symbols and terms cannot be imagined without the contribution of the genius scientist of the eighteenth century Leonard Euler. This great man is the pride of Russian science, who created the basic concepts of abstract science.

Leonard Euler
Leonard Euler

Leonard Euler (1707-1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer. One of the founders of modern mathematics. Euler's work dealt with almost every area of mathematics known at that time, and it was they who especially contributed to the development of mathematical analysis. Euler also made many statements and presented numerous definitions and notations of modern mathematics. He also began research that led to the emergence of a new, important area of mathematics - topology.

The beginning of the biography

Leonard Euler, by the will of fate, received a mathematical education. The family had strict rules. His father was a Protestant priest and lived near Basel. He sent the young Leonard to the University of Basel to study theology in order to become a priest in the future. At the same university, thirteen-year-old Leonard met Jacob Bernoulli and became friends with his two sons, Mikolaj and David. At the age of 16, he graduated from the faculty of mathematics, not theology as his father wanted. Euler also studied Hebrew, Greek, and medicine.

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Three years later, the future great mathematician was awarded the first prize of the Swiss Academy of Sciences for his article on optimizing the distance of masts for sailing ships. Euler's scientific career was associated with two universities. In one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four, the Russian Empress Catherine the First founded the Academy in St. Petersburg. Bernoulli's young sons got jobs at this Academy, and thanks to their friendship, Leonard went with them to St. Petersburg. At that time, the University of Basel rejected Euler's application to become rector of the physics department, explaining the refusal by Leonard's too young age (at that time he was about twenty years old).

Unfortunately, troubles followed the young man. When Leonard Euler came to St. Petersburg, the Great Empress died after a serious illness, and the Academy of Sciences gradually fell into decay. Because of this, Leonard found another job - a sergeant in the royal navy. He returned to the Academy three years later, when the natural and exact sciences again became in demand in Russian society. Euler became a physics teacher. Several years later from the beginning of his teaching career, he became the chief mathematician after David Bernoulli left the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Berlin period

In 1741, Frederick the Great invited Euler to become the head of the mathematics department at the Berlin Academy. This center was much more important in the world of science than the Tsar's Academy. Euler accepted the offer and spent 25 years in Berlin. Then he returned to St. Petersburg, because he was asked by Catherine the Great, who offered him excellent content and complete freedom of scientific creativity. At that time, Euler's relationship with Frederick the Great was not the best, so he happily left Berlin.

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In 1748, the theoretical mathematician completed his three-volume work entitled "Launching an Infinitesimal Analysis", which was published in Lausanne. This work is a collection of his earlier work and mathematical articles written over the years. This work influenced the development of modern mathematics. It includes almost everything that is currently taught in higher algebra and mathematical analysis.

At the Russian Academy

Euler counted very well, and the scientist's memory was phenomenal. At the beginning of his stay in St. Petersburg, he began developing complex astronomical boards. Leonard completed them three days later. Unfortunately, he paid a huge price for this. Researchers of history suggest that exhausted by painstaking work with a high temperature, he lost his sight, but only in one eye.

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Unfortunately, this happiness in misfortune did not last long. After returning to St. Petersburg, a cataract developed in the second eye, but Euler continued his work. He dictated the texts and formulas of the book and dissertation to the servant and his sons. One of his servants wrote the famous dictation, A Complete Introduction to Algebra, which has been translated into almost all major European languages and is considered the source of the algebra textbook.

The great legacy of a scientist

The list of works published during the life of Leonard Euler was about fifty pages. A lot of books, studies and dissertations that were created during Euler's life have survived to this day. About 700 different books, studies and dissertations remained in the scientific legacy of the great mathematician. The St. Petersburg Academy published them within 50 years after Euler's death. Euler's most important works, which are fundamental, and this is no exaggeration: an introduction to the Analysin Infinitorum (1748), Institutiones Calculus Differentialis (1755) and Institutiones Calculi Integralis (1770). It is a trilogy that is a collection of eighteenth-century mathematical knowledge. It is Euler's personal contribution to the development of modern mathematics.

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The merit of Leonard Euler's works is so great that the signs that he invented for mathematical functions or quantities are his own ideas, today they are considered by the mathematical community as the "spelling of mathematics".

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