Leonhard Euler (1707 – 1783)
Introduction:
None of mathematicians in history is equal in greatness as Leonhard Euler who became undisputed leader of the time by making tremendous contributions to mathematics and physics in eighteenth century. He influenced many branches of applied and pure mathematics such as Number theory, Calculus, Fluid Mechanics, etc. He extended the work of Leibniz in differential calculus and Fermat’s in number theory. He used difference operator in number theory and proved many results. He is the founder of the symbols of and tied them in one equation. He also defined the sigma notation and basic laws of infinite series. He used the divergence of infinite series to prove that prime numbers are infinite, a tremendous and independent proof after Euclid (325 – 265 BC). He laid down the foundations of many new theories like combinatorial topology, calculus of variations, graph theory and complex analysis. He wrote about 25 books and published more than 850 research papers from 1730 till 1800. He wrote numerous letters to the mathematicians of time like Goldbach, Naude, covering several thousands of pages.
Life of Euler:
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Petersburg and moved to Berlin with his wife and two sons in 1741and purchased a furnished house where they lived next 25 years. He joined Berlin Academy of Science and became director of mathematics department in 1744. Euler got busy with this job and extra responsibilities but he did not slow his research of mathematics. During his 25 – years stay is Berlin, he contributed many books on mathematical analysis, carving the calculus of variation, differential calculus and planetary motions. These books served the foundations of modern calculus especially in integration and differentiation. Besides it, he wrote many memoirs, more than 380 articles. He defined the primary laws of mechanics, acoustics and optic in his publication “letters to the Princess of