Leonhard Euler

Mathematician and physicist — Leonhard Euler (Basel 1707 – Saint Petersburg 1783) was a Swiss mathematician and physicist, among the most prolific and influential scientists of all time. Active chiefly at the academies of Saint Petersburg and Berlin, he made decisive contributions to practically every branch of mathematics and mathematical physics. In mechanics he reformulated and extended Newton’s laws, introducing rigid-body mechanics and the equations describing its rotation; in fluid dynamics he formulated the fundamental equations for ideal fluids. He also worked on optics, astronomy and continuum mechanics, introducing notations and methods still in use today. His work gave physics its modern analytical language.

Trivia

He gradually lost his sight until becoming almost completely blind, yet, thanks to his prodigious memory and mental calculation, he produced some of his most important works in those years, dictating them to his collaborators.

Theories and contributions

• Euler’s equations of fluid motion — Describe the motion of an ideal, inviscid fluid: $\rho\left(\dfrac{\partial \mathbf{v}}{\partial t}+\mathbf{v}\cdot\nabla\mathbf{v}\right)=-\nabla p$.
• Rigid-body dynamics — Euler’s equations for the rotation of a rigid body about its centre of mass.
• Critical buckling load (Euler) — Instability limit load of a compressed beam: $P_{cr}=\dfrac{\pi^2 EI}{L^2}$.

Featured in chapters

02

Linked atoms

1 linked atoms.

02 Forze e leggi di Newton

• Newton’s Principia