Leonhard Euler and the Foundations of Celestial Mechanics by Dora Musielak
Author:Dora Musielak
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783031123221
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Life in the Prussian Kingdom
In Berlin, Euler was extraordinarily busy, professionally and personally. In addition to his research and extensive work responsibilities at the Academy, he gave private lessons to aristocrats and others. Euler enjoyed teaching; however, he had to ask authorization from Frederick II to take tutoring requests. In March 1742, he wrote to Goldbach and mentioned that the king had granted him permission to give lessons in mathematics and physics to the sons of the Duchesse de Würtenberg. He had to meet the princes at their chateau daily, from 10 to 11 in the morning.
The most famous teaching endeavor by Euler was immortalized in âLetters to a German Princess.â77 Those letters were addressed to Princess Friederike Charlotte von Brandenburg-Schwedt, a fifteen-year-old niece of Frederick II. Over the course of two years, Euler wrote two hundred thirty-four letters to teach the princess almost everythingâphysical science, astronomy, music, logic, theology, and philosophy. Writing in French, Euler explained many important topics of natural science and provided their philosophical background in clear and concise manner that would be understandable to the young girl. Euler also gave lessons on analysis to the then nineteen-year-old astronomer de Lalande when he visited Berlin in 1751.
By all accounts, Euler did not socialize with Maupertuis or with other philosophes at the Court of Frederick II. If he had to attend a special event required by the monarchy, the socially unsophisticated mathematician may have been out of place. According to an anecdote (unverified), while in the presence of the queen mother, Euler replied to her polite conversation by monosyllables. Annoyed, the queen asked, âWhy you do not speak to me?â âMadameâreplied Eulerâbecause I come from a country where, when we speak, we are hanged.â78 Eulerâs quiet demeanor had more to do with social shyness.
The relationship between Euler and Maupertuis was far from congenial. Although Maupertuis owed much to Euler professionally, the two men belonged to different worlds and could never converge at a personal level. While Euler was a gentle, pious, a family man, a scholar more at ease writing and speaking mathematics, Maupertuis was arrogant, vain, plus à lâaise at Frederickâs court and preferred the company of elegant, witty people such as Voltaire, the Marquis dâArgens, Algarotti, and other philosophes who gravitated around the Prussian court.
Euler was deeply religious, and from the moral teachings he had received from his parents, he practiced the faith of a strict Calvinist. Every evening, in Eulerâs home, the family prayed together, including his children, servants, and pupils who were visiting or lodging at his home. Euler himself read to the family a chapter of the Bible, to which he sometimes added an exhortation. In such moral circumstances it is easy to assert that the social life at the kingâs court did not suit our mathematician. His own philosophy was based on Christianity.
Aside from his intense intellectual work, Euler was devoted to his family. He owned a home near the Academy and a country estate in Charlottenburg with a great meadowland.79 He and his wife had seven more children, four of which died in infancy in the years 1749â1750.
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