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Birkhäuser

Leonhard Euler

A Man to Be Reckoned With

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

  • Euler's life and livings in an exciting expedition, embedded in the great political developments of his time, particularly in Austria, Prussia and Russia
  • Illustrated story of Euler who made contributions to almost all sciences of his time
  • Completed by a short biography of Euler and relevant data of the most important politicians and contemporaries
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Keywords

  • Alice
  • Calc
  • Euler, Leonhard
  • Isaac Newton
  • Mathematica
  • bridge
  • calculus
  • calculus of variations
  • form
  • number theory
  • set
  • time

About this book

His ideas turned the mathematical world on its head. He calculated the currents of liquids, the moment of inertia, developed the calculus of variations and the modern number theory. As scientist he should be placed on the same level as Newton and Einstein.

Engineers all over the world use his formulas every day – whether it be for constructing the hull of the "Alinghi" or for calculating the vibrations of the "Viaduc de Millau", the world's highest motorway bridge.

He was, however, a man who loved the peace and quiet of his home life – not easy at the time of the foundation of St. Petersburg, when murdering czars was daily business; or in Berlin at the time of the Silesian wars; and particularly not in the midst of a crowd of children.

The comic by Elena Pini (illustrations) and Alice and Andreas K. Heyne (text) follows the life of the genius from Basel, who, born 300 years ago, would set out to change the scientific world.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“This is the wittiest biography of Euler I have ever read. The two authors of the text and the artist are extremely well acquainted with all aspects of Euler’s life. … It is the ideal gift for a mathematician and all those who like mathematics and are able to smile about the amiable human weaknesses of a mathematician.” (Eberhard Knobloch, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1179, 2010)

“The authors and illustrator describe the most important moments from Euler’s live in Switzerland, Russia and Germany. They show his significant discoveries in fields as divers as analysis, algebra, geometry, topology, mechanics, optics, astronomy, geography etc. The book written like a modern comics is a remarkable and easily readable story and can be recommended to children, students and their teachers to attract their interest to mathematics and scientific research.” (Martina Bečvářová, Mathematica Bohemica, Issue 2, 2010)

“This interesting and delightfully illustrated comic book describes and depicts the life of the mathematical genius, Leonhard Euler, in celebration of the 300th anniversary of his birthday. … The book is recommended for general, light reading, and is especially suitable for a school library … . for the scholar of the history of mathematics, or a mathematics student interested in some historical background, it will be a useful starting point.” (Michael de Villiers, The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 94 (531), November, 2010)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ettingen, Switzerland

    Andreas K. Heyne

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Leonhard Euler

  • Book Subtitle: A Man to Be Reckoned With

  • Authors: Andreas K. Heyne, Alice K. Heyne

  • Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Copyright Information: Birkh�user Basel 2007

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-7643-8332-9Published: 22 January 2007

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: II, 50

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