However, he continued to work almost unhindered thanks to his great capacity for mental arithmetic.
In 1766, he lost eyesight in a second eye, leaving him effectively blind.
In 1738, Euler all but lost his eyesight in one eye. The court of Frederick the Great welcomed many free-thinkers and deists such as Voltaire, Euler stood for a different world view at odds with the dominant culture of the court, and this made him unpopular. However, his sometimes argumentative nature and simple, devout nature made him a target of court members, such as Voltaire. His prestige as an eminent mathematician rose around the world. His books and letters were widely read, and it helped that Euler could communicate clearly with a lay audience. Euler wrote over 380 articles on maths and natural philosophy. His only other duties were some part-time teaching of Frederick’s family. Euler was happy to leave the increasing political turmoil in Russia and benefit from the patronage of Frederick, who allowed Euler to continue his investigations and publish his major works. In 1741, Euler was invited by Frederick the Great of Prussia to move to Berlin. Letters on different subjects in natural philosophy addressed to a German Princess” January 13, 1761 Death, then, is nothing but the dissolution of this union, andthe soul has no need to be transported elsewhere for as it resides in no place, all places must beindifferent to it”
“It is also the influence of the soul upon the body which constitutes its life, which continues aslong as this union subsists. On the subject of death, Euler was resigned, offering a typical Calvinist view. He remarried Katherina’s half-sister in 1776. They had 13 children, but only five survived childhood. In 1734, whilst living in Russia, he married Katharina Gsell. However, after the death of Peter and Catherine I, fewer funds were available. The Academy of Sciences had been founded by Peter the Great to improve education in Russia. While in Russia, Euler soon picked up the Russian language and also worked as a medic for the Russian Navy. In 1726, Euler was invited to St Petersburg to work at the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences, with Daniel Bernoulli. Euler was keen to pursue mathematics, though he never lost his interest in theology and philosophy. Bernoulli was soon aware of the child’s prodigious mathematical talent and Bernoulli successfully encouraged Euler’s father to allow his son to pursue mathematics rather than a career in the church. At the age of just 13, he enrolled at the University of Basel, gaining a degree in Philosophy, but he also studied mathematics at the weekend under the guidance of Johann Bernoulli. His father was a pastor in the Protestant Reformed Church and also a friend of Johann Bernoulli, the greatest mathematician of the age. Born in Switzerland he spent considerable time in Russia and Prussia.Įuler was born 15 April 1707 in Basel, Switzerland. His work served as a basis for many other mathematicians and he is widely regarded as the greatest mathematician of all time. Euler also introduced many modern mathematical notations such as π. It is estimated Euler wrote a third of all the mathematic works of the 18th Century. His work was remarkably prolific – running to 70-80 volumes on maths, physics, astronomy and logic. Amongst his many contributions, Euler made discoveries in infinitesimal calculus, graph theory and contributed to topology and analytic number theory. Leonhard Euler (1707 – 1783) was a Swiss mathematician and scientist who made a prolific number of discoveries in mathematics.
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