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2013-05-12 07:49:43
317
Basel, Switzerland
I was born on 15 April 1707, in Basel, Switzerland, to Paul III Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church, and Marguerite (née Brucker), another pastor's daughter. He was the oldest of four children, having two younger sisters, Anna Maria and Maria Magdalena, and a younger brother, Johann Heinrich. Soon after my birth, the Euler family moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, Switzerland, where his father became pastor in the local church and I spent most of my childhood. Paul was a friend of the Bernoulli family, interested in mathematics and took classes from Jacob Bernoulli. Johann Bernoulli, then regarded as Europe's foremost mathematician, would eventually be an important influence on me.
My formal education started in Basel, where I was sent to live with my maternal grandmother. In 1720, at only thirteen years of age, I enrolled at the University of Basel. In 1723, I received a Master of Philosophy with a dissertation that compared the philosophies of Descartes and Newton. During that time, I was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics. It was during this time that I was encouraged by the results of Johann Bernoulli's tutorial, that I obtained my father's consent to become a mathematician instead of a pastor.
In 1726, I completed a dissertation on the propagation of sound with the title De Sono with which I unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a position at the University of Basel. In 1727, I first entered the Paris Academy Prize Problem competition; the problem that year was to find the best way to place the masts on a ship. Pierre Bouguer, who became known as "the father of naval architecture", won and I took second place. I later won this annual prize twelve times.
My formal education started in Basel, where I was sent to live with my maternal grandmother. In 1720, at only thirteen years of age, I enrolled at the University of Basel. In 1723, I received a Master of Philosophy with a dissertation that compared the philosophies of Descartes and Newton. During that time, I was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics. It was during this time that I was encouraged by the results of Johann Bernoulli's tutorial, that I obtained my father's consent to become a mathematician instead of a pastor.
In 1726, I completed a dissertation on the propagation of sound with the title De Sono with which I unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a position at the University of Basel. In 1727, I first entered the Paris Academy Prize Problem competition; the problem that year was to find the best way to place the masts on a ship. Pierre Bouguer, who became known as "the father of naval architecture", won and I took second place. I later won this annual prize twelve times.
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