Leonhard Euler
1707–1783, Basel, Swiss Confederacy, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Influential Swiss mathematician and physicist whose work in analysis, mechanics, hydrodynamics, and mathematical notation shaped many modern fields.
Born in Basel, Euler studied under Johann Bernoulli and joined the Saint Petersburg Academy in 1727. He worked there for many years, then in Berlin, before returning to Saint Petersburg in 1766; despite severe loss of sight, he continued research at an extraordinary pace.
Euler developed foundational tools for analysis and mechanics, described fluid motion with the Euler equations, and popularized notation now including f(x), e, and π. His textbooks and enormous body of papers shaped mathematics and physics for generations.
Workplaces: Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin
Switzerland