Euler and Modern Science (Spectrum)

This book is an English translation of a collection of papers in Russian from a conference held in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1983, 200 years after Euler s death. Two of the Russian papers in the collection are themselves translations from the German. The present English translation appears in 2007, 300 years after his birth. We speak of the age of Euler. A justification of this term is provided by a list of scientific terms connected with Euler s name and his many contributions to pure mathematics, well-known in the mathematical community and, in part, covered in this volume. What makes this collection remarkable, though, is the extensive treatment of Euler s contributions outside pure mathematics, astronomy, celestial mechanics, ballistics, history of science, instruments and technology, physics, mechanics, hydromechanics, mechanics of elastic systems, variational principles of mechanics, and a mathematical theory of music. Euler was also actively involved in the preparation and sale of scientific books, and while in Berlin, of scientific almanacs. In addition to this survey of his contributions to science, we find here material otherwise very difficult to find detailed accounts of Euler s family life and the careers pursued by his children and grandchildren. Readers otherwise well-informed about Euler and his work will find here much to enhance their appreciation of this extraordinary scientist and human being.