Leonhard made countless discoveries in the field of mathematics, working with calculus, geometry, number theory, trigonometry, and many areas of physics. Surprisingly, this did not limit his productivity! With the help of assistants who transcribed his work, he published even more than he had before he lost his eyesight. A failed surgery in Russia rendered him almost totally blind. By 1766 he’d already lost most of the sight in his right eye and cataracts were discovered in the left one. In the meantime, Leonhard’s eyesight was deteriorating. Petersburg Academy and returned with his family that same year. More in line with Peter the Great’s policies on mathematics and academics, Leonhard felt that he could return to Catherine’s Russia. In 1766, when Catherine the Great took the Russian throne, the empire stabilized. He even published over 100 papers in Russia, all while employed at the Berlin Academy, a real feat at the time. Despite the many improved conditions in Prussia, Leonhard missed Russia and stayed in contact with his friends and colleagues there. Instead, Frederick the Great installed himself as president. When it came time to appoint the new president of the Berlin Academy, Leonhard was passed over, despite his vast contributions to the academic influence of the academy. Leonhard himself was deeply religious and largely unconcerned with subjects outside of the realm of mathematics and science. Frederick the Great enjoyed surrounding himself with sophisticated, worldly intellectuals who often leaned towards the secular. During his tenure, he published several hundred papers! However, he was frequently the object of the Prussian Emperor’s scorn. In Berlin, Leonhard was given the freedom to publish on whatever topics he wished. Leonhard and his family moved to Berlin, where he would stay for the next 25 years. Leonhard decided to leave and travel to Prussia. By 1741, however, another Russian emperor died, leaving a power vacuum. He initially resisted leaving Russia, trying to eke out an academic career amidst political upheaval. Just a few years later, the Prussian Emperor offered Leonhard a position at his new Berlin Academy. In 1934, Leonhard married Katharina Gsell, the daughter of a well-known Russian painter. Just a few years later, he ascended to the head of the mathematics department after his friend Daniel quit and returned to Switzerland. In 1731, Leonhard was promoted to Professor of Physics. However, Peter the Great’s successors were much more conservative, censoring the professors at the school and displaying general hostility towards the foreigners that held positions there. He had established the school to modernize Russia and bring it into line with the rapid scientific progress being made in Western Europe. When Emperor Peter the Great died, conditions deteriorated at the Academy. He also became a medic in the Russian Navy. Leonhard quickly learned Russian and adjusted to life in St. However, he was offered a position at the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences by Daniel Bernoulli, after his brother Nicolaus died, leaving an open professorship. He unsuccessfully tried to get a position at the University of Basel, like many of his friends in the Bernoulli family. Johann discovered Leonhard’s innate talent for mathematics and helped to convince his father to allow him to study mathematics, instead of theology.Īt the age of 19, Leonhard completed his dissertation on the mathematical properties of sound. While taking his university classes, he was also receiving private tutoring on the weekends with Johann Bernoulli. When he was 13 years old, he enrolled at the University of Basel. However, when it came time for Leonhard to begin his formal education, he moved back to Basel to live with his maternal grandmother. As a young child, he took classes from Jacob Bernoulli, who was regarded as one of the most famous European mathematicians at the time. Leonhard spent most of his childhood in Riehen, spending lots of time with the Bernoulli family, who were friends of his father. Soon after his birth, the Euler family moved to the town of Riehen, where Leonhard’s father became a pastor at the local church.
His father was a pastor and his mother was a pastor’s daughter, both of the Protestant reformed church. Leonhard Euler was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1707.
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