EULER

(oi‘lér or ii‘lér), Leonard, a distinguished mathematician, born at Basel in 1707, died at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1783. He was educated at the University of Basel under the Bernouillis, through whose infiuence he procured a place in the Academy of St. Petersburg. In 1741 he accepted an invitation from Frederick the Great to become profe or of mathematics in the Berlin Academy, but in 1766 returned to St, Petersburg, where he became director of the mathematical cla of the academy. Euler’s profound and inventive mind gave a new form to the science. He applied the analytic method to mechanics, and greatly improved the integral and differential calculus. He also wrote on physics, and employed himself in metaphysical and philosophical speculations. Amongst his numerous writings are: the Ykeoria Motuum Planet arum et Cometarum, Introductio in An a lysin In finito rum, and Opuscula Analytic a.