8 For ‘even’ years, a prize of 2,500 livres was offered for the best treatise on a theory to do with astronomy, matter, mechanics, optics, or physics. In 1727, Euler submitted a paper in Latin (E4) 7 to the Paris Academy of Science’s annual Paris Prize competition, which was then the most distinguished scientific award in Europe. He was so impressed with Leonhard’s exceptional talent and zeal for this subject that he not only gave him private Saturday-afternoon tutorials in mathematics, astronomy and physics, 6 but also convinced Paul that his son was predestined for a career in mathematics rather than in theology. However, mathematics was taught there by Johann Bernoulli, a family friend, later one of the foremost mathematicians in Europe. Then, after schooling at the Basel Gymnasium, in 1720 he enrolled at the University of Basel, where he studied theology, law, philosophy, Greek and Hebrew with a view to becoming a pastor. Young Leonhard was introduced to the elements of mathematics at home by his father.
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Usually post-doctoral and based on independent research, this is a still-common European qualification needed to undertake self-contained university teaching and is an important step to a full professorship. 5 Euler’s Dissertation on the Physics of Sound (E2) for his ‘habilitation’ at the age of 20. 4 These were convictions which Leonhard accepted for himself and from which he never wavered. 3 Paul had studied mathematics and theology in acquiring a Master of Arts degree from the University of Basel, and he then became the pastor of an Evangelical-Reformed Church in Riehen (near Basel) which stressed “the Christian inner life of rebirth, brotherly love, and living belief”. Leonhard was born on 15 April 1707 in Basel, a city on the Rhine River, Switzerland, the first child of Paul and Margaretha Euler. Eminent Swiss science historian Emil Fellmann says that Euler was “not only by far the most productive mathematician in all of human history, but also one of the greatest scholars of all time.” 2 Early life and a talent for mathematics Every evening after dinner Euler gathered his children, servants, and students lodging at his house, for a domestic devotion there were biblical readings, and sometimes explanations and discussions. These multiple achievements place him in the company of Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss. 1 He contributed to almost every area of pure and applied mathematics-especially calculus, number theory, notation, optics, and celestial, rational and fluid mechanics.īy applying mathematics to physical problems, he made many practical advances in cartography, chronology, ship-building, bridge-building, and ballistics. Leonhard Euler (pronounced oi-la), (1707–1783) was not only one of the greatest mathematicians and theoretical physicists of all time, but he was also the most prolific. Leonhard Euler portrait by Jakob Handmann (1756) Leonhard Euler Mathematical Genius and Bible-believing Christianīy Russell Grigg This is the pre-publication version which was subsequently revised to appear in Creation 40(4):48–52.
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