Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)
Leonhard Euler is considered by many to have been the greatest mathematician and physicist of the eighteenth century. He made significant contributions to nearly every branch of mathematics - calculus, differential equations, calculus of variations, algebra, number theory, complex variables, geometry, topology, and combinatorics. He also made significant advances in many branches of physics - mechanics, astronomy, electricity and magnetism, light and color, hydraulics, optics, acoustics, and elasticity. During his lifetime he had more than 500 articles and books published. An additional 400 of his manuscripts were published after his death. His publications were well known for their originality and clarity of exposition. Euler established much of the mathematical notation used today. Throughout his life, Euler was a committed Christian. He ably defended his faith against attacks by enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire. I have described his life and faith in the paper entitled "Leonhard Euler: His Life and His Faith."
An Adobe Acrobat file containing this paper can be opened by clicking on the link below. To open this file you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine. This program is a free download from the Adobe site. You can go to the download site by clicking on the Adobe Reader icon at the bottom of this page. To download the file containing the paper on Euler right-click on the link below and select Save target (link) as.
Leonhard Euler: His Life and His Faith File: Euler.pdf (465 KB)
Additional Links:
- The Foremost Textbook of Modern Times
This is an essay by the mathematics historian Carl B. Boyer on the calculus textbook of Leonhard Euler.
- Leonhard Euler: His Life, the Man, and His Works
This is an excellent biography of Euler by the prominent mathematician and computer scientist Walter Gautschi.
- The God-Fearing Life of Leonhard Euler
This paper by Dale L. McIntyre contains a good summary of Euler's religous beliefs.
- Leonhard Euler - Wikipedia
This biography of Euler is from the free internet encyclopedia Wikipedia.
- Euler Biography
This biography of Euler is from the Mac Tutor web site.
- Euler Archive
This site contains many of Euler's papers online.
