Leonhard Euler (pronounced oiler) was a Swiss mathematician born in 1707. His father, Paul Euler, studied at the University of Basel. Paul was taught by Jacob Bernoulli and knew the Bernoullis quite well, which would have a large impact on Leonhard’s life. Growing up, Leonhard when to a poor school and wasn’t taught math at all, although his father was able to teach him some elementary mathematics. He continued to read books and take private lessons in the subject. Paul wanted his son to go into ministry just as he did, and sent him to the University of Basel at the age of 14 in 1720. There, Johann Bernoulli noticed his talent in mathematics. Although he was too busy to give Leonhard private lessons, he was able to take the time to give him advice and even gave him permission to visit him on Sunday afternoons for help. Euler completed his Master’s degree in philosophy in 1723, but lacked enthusiasm for theology. With the influence of their family friend Johann Bernoulli, Euler gained his father’s approval to switch to mathematics. In 1726, he finished his studies at the University of Basel.
Euler Moved to Russia in 1727 to become a part of the faculty at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. There he was able to work with his friend Daniel Bernoulli, and a few other influencers. Daniel held the position of senior chair in mathematics until 1733, when he returned home to Basel and Euler was appointed the chair. It is said that in 1735 Euler went blind in one eye after working to solve a math problem—staying up for 3 consecutive days in the process. This didn’t seem to slow him down much as he went on to write over 90 papers and his book Mechanica while still in Russia. He was later called to Berlin, moving there in 1741 to work for the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Euler wrote another 380 articles over the next 25 years, covering topics like calculus, planetary orbits, ship navigation, and ballistics.
In 1766, Euler returned to St. Petersburg where he lost nearly all eyesight due to cataracts. It is said though, that he had an incredible memory and despite his inability to see, he was still able to make advanced calculations in his head. With the help of others, Euler was still able to publish his works by dictating them. All together he published over 800 works and won the Paris Academy prize 12 times during his life. Euler was one of the greatest contributors to mathematics. He gave us the symbols e for the base of natural logarithms, i the imaginary number (square root of -1), π for pi, the function notation f(x), along with other standard mathematical notations. Throughout his life he also did important work on various theories and proofs, adding to not only to mathematics but also other sciences. Euler died in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1783 after having a stroke.
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