Fun Facts About Leonhard Euler
- Leonhard Euler went almost blind in his right eye in 1738, and as it worsened Frederick the Great called him "Cyclops." Euler said of losing his sight: "Now I will have fewer distractions."[1][3][4]
- Euler memorized Virgil's Aeneid early in life. In old age he could still recite it and give the first and last sentence on each page of the edition he learned it from.[1][5][6]
- Euler was meant to become a pastor. His teacher Johann Bernoulli helped him get his father's consent to become a mathematician instead.[1]
- In Saint Petersburg, Euler took a side job as a medic in the Russian Navy. When he left the navy in 1731, he turned down a promotion to lieutenant.[1]
- Euler's 1735 proof that no walk can cross each of the seven bridges of Königsberg exactly once is considered the first theorem of graph theory.[1]
- Euler was the first to write f(x) for a function, and he introduced the letter e for the base of the natural logarithm.[1]
- Leonhard Euler was alive at the same time as Jane Austen — their lives overlapped for 8 years (1775–1783).[1][2][7][8]
- Leonhard Euler shares a birthday with Leonardo da Vinci: both were born on April 15.[1][2][9][10]
Leonhard Euler was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, music theorist and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics, such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, and infinitesimal calculus. He also introduced much of modern mathematical terminology and notation, including the notion of a mathematical function. He is known for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, and music theory. Euler has been called a "universal genius" who "was fully equipped with almost unlimited powers of imagination, intellectual gifts and extraordinary memory". He spent most of his adult life in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in Berlin, then the capital of Prussia.[1]
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Questions About Leonhard Euler
When was Leonhard Euler born?
Leonhard Euler was born on April 15, 1707, and died on September 18, 1783.
How old was Leonhard Euler at death?
Leonhard Euler was born on April 15, 1707, and died on September 18, 1783, at age 76.
What was Leonhard Euler known for?
Leonhard Euler was known for: Prolific Swiss mathematician. Leonhard Euler was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, music theorist and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics, such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, and infinitesimal calculus. He also introduced much of modern mathematical terminology and notation, including the notion of a mathematical function. He is known for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, and music theory. Euler has been called a "universal genius" who "was fully equipped with almost unlimited powers of imagination, intellectual gifts and extraordinary memory". He spent most of his adult life in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in Berlin, then the capital of Prussia.
Who was alive at the same time as Leonhard Euler?
Leonhard Euler's closest contemporary was Benjamin Franklin. Their lives overlapped for 76 years.
Sources
- Leonhard Euler — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leonhard Euler (Q7604) — Wikidata
- Frederick the Great — Wikipedia
- Frederick the Great (Q33550) — Wikidata
- Virgil — Wikipedia
- Virgil (Q1398) — Wikidata
- Jane Austen — Wikipedia
- Jane Austen (Q36322) — Wikidata
- Leonardo da Vinci — Wikipedia
- Leonardo da Vinci (Q762) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Leonhard Euler 2.jpg — Wikimedia Commons. Jakob Emanuel Handmann, Public domain