| The Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler | | | | Euler made one important contribution after another in |
| (1707-1783) is one of the most important figures of | | | | Number Theory, Graph Theory, Power Series, physics, |
| science and certainly one of the greatest pioneers of | | | | astronomy, and a number of other science topics. |
| calculus that ever lived. | | | | He had photographic memory so incredible that once |
| How important and how great? | | | | he memorized Aeneid's Virgil and he could recite it |
| Every time you express a function as "f(x)" you owe it | | | | cover to cover, include the first and last lines on every |
| to Euler who invented the notation as well as the | | | | page! Such prodigious mental powers helped him |
| whole idea of a "function." He is THAT important. | | | | greatly towards the end of his life when he became |
| Again, every time you express a natural logarithm by | | | | nearly blind. But he never stopped working. Even in as |
| using the letter "e" you are actually using the first letter | | | | late as 1775 he was publishing one mathematical paper |
| of his last name, "Euler." Imagine the future generations | | | | a WEEK. |
| using the first letter of YOUR last name to honor you?! | | | | Euler died in St. Petersburg, Russia after serving at St. |
| Pretty cool, isn't it? | | | | Petersburg Academy at the invitation of Catherine the |
| Euler also invented the use of letter "i" for "imaginary | | | | Great for a number of years. |
| numbers" like, let's say, a number the square of which | | | | Today our scientists and engineers work with calculus |
| equals -1 (minus one), or any other negative number. | | | | concepts and formulas first invented by Euler. That's |
| The idea was considered pretty radical back in the | | | | why he is a scientist who is worth remembering with |
| 18th century when the great Swiss genius lived. | | | | admiration and gratitude. |