Leonhard Euler
(15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783)
A glimpse on Euler's life.
- Leonhard Euler was born, raised, and educated in Switzerland.
- He first worked as a professor in the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences while being a medic in the Russian Navy.
- Euler next worked as a professor in the Berlin Academy, where he accomplished much of his life's works and discoveries.
- Later in life, he returned to work with the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences until he died in 1783.
- He is best known for his enormous contributions to mathematics and physics.
- His works and discoveries also greatly influenced astronomy, engineering, and music.
- He worked on so many topics that he is usually the best, earliest written reference for most of them.
- Many of the discoveries and theorems first credited to Euler were instead named to the person who next proved them, to avoid confusion in having many concepts named after him (see them here).
Some of Euler's Famous Works
Euler's Number
One of the most important numbers in Mathematics and it also shows up in almost every field where numbers are involved. It is the base of natural logarithm (image from Popular Mechanics).
Euler's Identity
Dubbed the most beautiful equation in Mathematics as it contains all the important numbers. It is an important equation in Physics and Engineering (image from Live Science).
“Nothing takes place in the world whose meaning is not that of some maximum or minimum.” - Leonhard Euler