Leonhard Euler : mathematical genius in the Enlightenment /
Ronald S. Calinger.
- 1 online resource
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Machine generated contents note: 1. The Swiss Years: 1707: to April 1727 -- "Das alte ehrwurdige Basel" (Worthy Old Basel) -- Lineage and Early Childhood -- Formal Education in Basel -- Initial Publications and the Search for a Position -- 2."Into the Paradise of Scholars": April 1727 to 1730 -- Founding Saint Petersburg and the Imperial Academy of Sciences -- A Fledgling Camp Divided -- The Entrance of Euler -- 3. Departures, and Euler in Love: 1730 to 1734 -- Courtship and Marriage -- Groundwork Research and Massive Computations -- 4. Reaching the "Inmost Heart of Mathematics": 1734 to 1740 -- The Basel Problem and the Mechanica -- The Konigsberg Bridges and More Foundational Work in Mathematics -- Scientia navalis, Polemics, and the Prix de Paris -- Pedagogy and Music Theory -- Daniel Bernoulli and Family -- 5. Life Becomes Rather Dangerous: 1740 to August 1741 -- Another Paris Prize, a Textbook, and Book Sales -- Health, Interregnum Dangers, and Prussian Negotiations. Note continued: 6.A Call to Berlin: August 1741 to 1744 -- "Ex Oriente Lux": Toward a Frederician Era for the Sciences -- The Arrival of the Grand Algebraist -- The New Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences -- Europe's Mathematician, Whom Others Wished to Emulate -- Relations with the Petersburg Academy of Sciences -- 7."The Happiest Man in the World": 1744 to 1746 -- Renovation, Prizes, and Leadership -- Investigating the Fabric of the Universe -- Contacts with the Petersburg Academy of Sciences -- Home, Chess, and the King -- 8. The Apogee Years, I: 1746 to 1748 -- The Start of the New Royal Academy -- The Monadic Dispute, Court Relations, and Accolades -- Exceeding the Pillars of Hercules in the Mathematical Sciences -- Academic Clashes in Berlin, and Euler's Correspondence with the Petersburg Academy -- The Euler Family -- 9. The Apogee Years, II: 1748 to 1750 -- The Introductio and Another Paris Prize -- Competitions and Disputes. Note continued: Decrial, Tasks, and Printing Scientia navalis -- A Sensational Retraction and Discord -- State Projects and the "Vanity of Mathematics" -- The Konig Visit and Daily Correspondence -- Family Affairs -- 10. The Apogee Years, III: 1750 to 1753 -- Competitions in Saint Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin -- Maupertuis's Cosmologie and Selected Research -- Academic Administration -- Family Life and Philidor -- Rivalries: Euler, d'Alembert, and Clairaut -- The Maupertuis-Konig Affair: The Early Second Phase -- Two Camps, Problems, and Inventions -- Botany and Maps -- The Maupertuis-Konig Affair: The Late Second and Early Third Phases -- Planetary Perturbations and Mechanics -- Music, Rameau, and Basel -- Strife with Voltaire and the Academy Presidency -- 11. Increasing Precision and Generalization in the Mathematical Sciences: 1753 to 1756 -- The Dispute over the Principle of Least Action: The Third Phase -- Administration and Research at the Berlin Academy. Note continued: The Charlottenburg Estate -- Wolff, Segner, and Mayer -- A New Correspondent and Lessons for Students -- Institutiones calculi differentialis and Fluid Mechanics -- A New Telescope, the Longitude Prize, Haller, and Lagrange -- Anleitung zur Nauturlehre and Electricity and Optimism Prizes -- 12. War and Estrangement, 1756 to July 1766 -- The Antebellum Period -- Into the Great War and Beyond -- Losses, Lessons, and Leadership -- Rigid-Body Disks, Lambert, and Better Optical Instruments -- The Presidency of the Berlin Academy -- What Soon Happened, and Denouement -- 13. Return to Saint Petersburg: Academy Reform and Great Productivity, July 1766 to 1773 -- Restoring the Academy: First Efforts -- The Grand Geometer: A More Splendid Oeuvre -- A Further Research Corpus: Relentless Ingenuity -- The Kulibin Bridge, the Great Fire, and One Fewer Distraction -- Persistent Objectives: To Perfect, to Create, and to Order -- 14. Vigorous Autumnal Years: 1773 to 1782. Note continued: The Euler Circle -- Elements of Number Theory and Second Ship Theory -- The Diderot Story and Katharina's Death -- The Imperial Academy: Projects and Library -- The Russian Navy, Turgot's Request, and a Successor -- At the Academy: Technical Matters and a New Director -- A Second Marriage and Rapprochement with Frederick II -- End of Correspondence and Exit from the Academy -- Mapmaking and Prime Numbers -- A Notable Visit and Portrait -- Magic Squares and Another Honor -- 15. Toward "a More Perfect State of Dreaming": 1782 to October 1783 -- The Inauguration of Princess Dashkova -- 1783 Articles -- Final Days -- Major Eulogies and an Epilogue.
An acclaimed biography of the Enlightenment's greatest mathematician This is the first full-scale biography of Leonhard Euler (1707–83), one of the greatest mathematicians and theoretical physicists of all time. In this comprehensive and authoritative account, Ronald Calinger connects the story of Euler's eventful life to the astonishing achievements that place him in the company of Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss. Drawing chiefly on Euler’s massive published works and correspondence, which fill more than eighty volumes so far, this biography sets Euler’s work in its multilayered context—personal, intellectual, institutional, political, cultural, religious, and social. It is a story of nearly incessant accomplishment, from Euler’s fundamental contributions to almost every area of pure and applied mathematics—especially calculus, number theory, notation, optics, and celestial, rational, and fluid mechanics—to his advancements in shipbuilding, telescopes, ballistics, cartography, chronology, and music theory. The narrative takes the reader from Euler’s childhood and education in Basel through his first period in St. Petersburg, 1727–41, where he gained a European reputation by solving the Basel problem and systematically developing analytical mechanics. Invited to Berlin by Frederick II, Euler published his famous Introductio in analysin infinitorum , devised continuum mechanics, and proposed a pulse theory of light. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1766, he created the analytical calculus of variations, developed the most precise lunar theory of the time that supported Newton’s dynamics, and published the best-selling Letters to a German Princess —all despite eye problems that ended in near-total blindness. In telling the remarkable story of Euler and how his achievements brought pan-European distinction to the Petersburg and Berlin academies of sciences, the book also demonstrates with new depth and detail the central role of mathematics in the Enlightenment.