Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)

Leonhard Euler was the most published mathematician of all time. There is probably not a single branch of mathematics known during his lifetime which he did not influence. If a difficult problem arose, Euler was generally consulted, and could often solve it.

Euler was born near Basel, Switzerland and raised in the village of Riehen. His father was a Protestant Minister, and his mother was also from a clerical family. He was expected to follow his father into the clergy. He was an able student, mastering languages and mathematics and a memory for matters of detail.

He entered the University of Basel at the age of 14. A Professor of mathematics there was Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748), arguably the world's greatest active mathematician. Euler became a good friend of Bernoulli, who became his mentor. Both men appeared to have inspired each other greatly during their regular meetings. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy Degree from Basel University.

He did afterwards enter divinity school but found the call of mathematics to be greater. Bernoulli's son Daniel (1700-1782) moved to Russia in 1725 to take up a position at the newly formed St Petersburg Academy. In the following year Euler was invited to join him and he arrived in the year 1727. Living at the same home as Daniel Bernoulli Euler was able to discuss and collaborate with him extensively.

At about this time his work on exponential functions led him to introduce the constant e, the symbol for the important transcendental number 2.71828... . He also discovered the result