Euler wrote an article on acoustics, which went on to become a classic, in his bid for selection to the post but he was not chosen to go forward to the stage where lots were drawn to make the final decision on who would fill the chair. He wanted time to study the topics relating to his new post but also he had a chance of a post at the University of Basel since the professor of physics there had died. He accepted the post in November 1726 but stated that he did not want to travel to Russia until the spring of the following year. However, Euler now had to find himself an academic appointment and when Nicolaus (II ) Bernoulli died in St Petersburg in July 1726 creating a vacancy there, Euler was offered the post which would involve him in teaching applications of mathematics and mechanics to physiology. The Prize of 1727 went to Bouguer, an expert on mathematics relating to ships, but Euler's essay won him second place which was a fine achievement for the young graduate. In 1727 he published another article on reciprocal trajectories and submitted an entry for the 1727 Grand Prize of the Paris Academy on the best arrangement of masts on a ship. By 1726 Euler had already a paper in print, a short article on isochronous curves in a resisting medium.
They include works by Varignon, Descartes, Newton, Galileo, van Schooten, Jacob Bernoulli, Hermann, Taylor and Wallis. He had studied many mathematical works during his time in Basel, and Calinger has reconstructed many of the works that Euler read with the advice of Johann Bernoulli. The fact that Euler's father had been a friend of Johann Bernoulli's in their undergraduate days undoubtedly made the task of persuasion much easier.Įuler completed his studies at the University of Basel in 1726. Euler obtained his father's consent to change to mathematics after Johann Bernoulli had used his persuasion. He began his study of theology in the autumn of 1723, following his father's wishes, but, although he was to be a devout Christian all his life, he could not find the enthusiasm for the study of theology, Greek and Hebrew that he found in mathematics. In 1723 Euler completed his Master's degree in philosophy having compared and contrasted the philosophical ideas of Descartes and Newton.
True, he was very busy and so refused flatly to give me private lessons but he gave me much more valuable advice to start reading more difficult mathematical books on my own and to study them as diligently as I could if I came across some obstacle or difficulty, I was given permission to visit him freely every Sunday afternoon and he kindly explained to me everything I could not understand. I soon found an opportunity to be introduced to a famous professor Johann Bernoulli. Euler's own account given in his unpublished autobiographical writings, see, is as follows:. Johann Bernoulli soon discovered Euler's great potential for mathematics in private tuition that Euler himself engineered. He entered the University in 1720, at the age of 14, first to obtain a general education before going on to more advanced studies. Euler's father wanted his son to follow him into the church and sent him to the University of Basel to prepare for the ministry. However his interest in mathematics had certainly been sparked by his father's teaching, and he read mathematics texts on his own and took some private lessons. This school was a rather poor one, by all accounts, and Euler learnt no mathematics at all from the school. Leonhard was sent to school in Basel and during this time he lived with his grandmother on his mother's side. Paul Euler had, as we have mentioned, some mathematical training and he was able to teach his son elementary mathematics along with other subjects. Their son Leonhard Euler was born in Basel, but the family moved to Riehen when he was one year old and it was in Riehen, not far from Basel, that Leonard was brought up.
Paul Euler became a Protestant minister and married Margaret Brucker, the daughter of another Protestant minister. In fact Paul Euler and Johann Bernoulli had both lived in Jacob Bernoulli's house while undergraduates at Basel. Paul Euler had studied theology at the University of Basel and had attended Jacob Bernoulli's lectures there. Biography Leonhard Euler's father was Paul Euler.
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