Happy 300th Birthday Leonhard Euler!

[Thales]

Today is the 300th anniversary of the birth of Leonhard Euler (you do the math!). It would be sad if we didn't make note of him. Note, Euler is pronounced “oiler”.

Euler is one of my favorite mathematicians. The most prolific mathematician in history, perhaps unmatched in quantity and quality, because he produced a great deal and a great deal of what he produced was brilliant. Our modern mathematical notation is largely attributable to Euler. At a young age he was tutored by Johann Bernoulli, another great mathematician. He worked to solve problems in mechanics, optics, and other fields. He was known for having a great memory. He memorized not only the first 100 prime numbers, but also their squares, cubes, fourth, and sixth powers!

He was also known for being very kind. He was rare, in that he was a genius who was also a brilliant and patient teacher who took great pleasure in revealing the mysteries of math to his students.

Euler produced so much material that the publication of it all went on for 47 years after his death. His Opera Omina was some 73 volumes.

I personally use much of Euler's work in my work, which is mostly in computer graphics and animation: Euler angles, and Euler's method for iterative integration in simulation.

Some say he was the greatest mathematician in history, while I will not go quite that far -- Newton, Archimedes and Gauss may have been better -- he is certainly among them. But, Euler certainly was one of the most brilliant minds in history, so on this 300th day of his birth let's pay our respects to a man who had and is having a great positive effect on the world in which we live.

I found this great quote from him by another poster on the web today regarding some philosophers.

"When I see a house or a tree I pronounce instantly that there exists

out of me a house or a tree of which I know certain properties such as

the size and color and location. Accordingly we find neither man nor

beast that calls this truth into question. If a peasant were to

conceive and announce that he did not believe his bailiff existed

though he stood in his presence he would be taken for a madman and

rightly so. Yet when a philosopher expresses similar sentiments he

expects that we should admire his greater knowledge and sagacity that

far surpass the apprehensions of the vulgar." (Leonard Euler)

A big thumbs up for Euler.

[LaszloWalrus]

Incidientally, Euler did much of his work while completely blind; he lost sight in one eye, and then in the other, and relied upon his powerful memory to remember all of the equations he had worked out.