By Fresenbet G.

Leonard Euler: Born April 15, 1707 in Basel, Switzerland, Euler is hailed as being one of the most brilliant, famous and prolific mathematician that ever walked the earth! As a child, Euler was heavily influenced by Johann Bernoulli, who was one of the foremost mathematicians of the time, and also a close friend of Euler’s family. At the age of thirteen, Euler enrolled at the University of Basel, and completed his masters at the age of sixteen. At the time, Euler used to study mathematics with Johann Bernoulli every Saturday. Johann soon came to experience Euler’s genius firsthand, and urged Euler’s father to let his son study mathematics. Soon, by the advice of John Bernoulli’s sons, he started to apply mathematics to the study of physiology. While studying physiology, he did research on the nature and propagation of sound. In 1727, Euler entered the Paris Academy Prize problem completion, which won him a second place, though he later won the annual times twelve times. Later on, with a request from Daniel Bernoulli, Euler traveled to Russia, and soon found himself a position inside the mathematics department of Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences. Later on, Euler became the head of the mathematics department. Euler has made significant contributions to almost all branches of pure mathematics and physics, publishing more than 800 research papers. Later in life, even though Euler lost the eyesight of both his eyes, he still managed to publish. Euler’s identity, a special case of a complex exponential function, has been hailed by Richard Feynman as being “the most remarkable formula in mathematics”. His solution to the problem known as the “Seven Bridges of Konigsberg” is famous to this very day. Euler died on September 18, 1783 at the age of 76.