A Strange Wilderness by Amir D. Aczel

Author:Amir D. Aczel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling
Published: 2011-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

Catherine II, a.k.a. Catherine the Great, acted as Euler’s patron during his stay in Russia from 1766 until his death in St. Petersburg in 1783.

In 1771 a fire raged in Saint Petersburg, and Euler’s house was destroyed. Euler’s Swiss servant Grimm courageously carried him out of the house to safety and also rescued his wife; the empress then restored the furniture and the library of her favorite mathematician. Five years later Euler’s wife of forty years died. He later married her half sister, Salome Abigail Gsell.

Despite his misfortunes, Euler never lost his faith in God. In fact, his belief in the divine order of mathematics was reflected in his encounter with the French philosopher and famous atheist Denis Diderot (1713–84). Diderot visited the academy and worked hard to convert all the scholars and scientists to atheism. According to Augustus de Morgan (Budget of Paradoxes, 1782), Euler leaped at the chance to capitalize on the philosopher’s ignorance of mathematics and challenge him. “Diderot was informed that a learned mathematician was in possession of an algebraic demonstration of the existence of God, and would give it before all the Court, if he desired to hear it. Diderot gladly consented … Euler advanced toward Diderot, and said gravely, and in a tone of perfect conviction: ‘Sir, (a + bn)/n = x, hence God exists—reply!’” Diderot understood nothing about mathematics, so he remained silent, but the wild laughter of everyone around him humiliated him so much that he quickly packed his bags and returned to France.9

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE how a mathematician could have produced as much as Euler had. He was especially interested in calculus, on which he wrote a series of books and research papers. He also wrote elementary books on mathematics for the Russian secondary education system. His research on the calculus of variations created an important new field, and he founded analytical mechanics as well. Euler also initiated the mathematical study of the rotations of rigid bodies and discovered the equations of fluid dynamics used in the field of hydrodynamics. He proposed the letter e for the natural number that is the base of the natural logarithms and proposed the Greek letter π for the ratio of the circumference of the circle to its diameter. We also credit Euler with what is considered the most beautiful equation in mathematics: eiπ + 1 = 0. The equation incorporates basic elements of mathematics, including the essential numbers 0, 1, e, and π, as well as i and the basic elements of arithmetic (the signs for addition, multiplication, and exponentiation, as well as the equal sign).

Euler was a great universalist, contributing to many areas of mathematics with an exceptional intensity. He was most fond of calculations, however, performing them constantly in his mind right up until the moment of his death. On September 18, 1783, Euler spent the afternoon calculating the rate of ascent through the air of a balloon and then dined with his family and friends, discussing the planet Uranus,

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