While searching through the Gale Virtual Reference Library here at Nassau Community College, I ran across an article on Leonhard Euler, titled Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. It’s written by Judson Knight and edited by Josh Lauer and Neil Schlager[1].
The two sentences in the second paragraph state:
“Born in Basel, Switzerland, on April 17, 1707, the future mathematician was the son of Paul, a Calvinist pastor, and Marguerite Brucker Euler. Soon after his birth, the family moved to the town of Reichen, where his father had a parish. Paul wanted his son to follow him in the ministry; but the gifted boy’s tutors, the brothers Jakob (1654-1705) and Johann (1667-1748) Bernoulli, convinced him that God had called Leonhard to a different path, as evidenced by his demonstrated abilities.”
All looks fine and well except that it would be extremely difficult for Johann Bernoulli to be Euler’s tutor, because he died two years before Euler was born!
There are other facts stated in this article that are suspect. For example, Knight states that Euler was born on April 17, 1707. All of the other documents I researched show his date of birth as April 15, 1707. A simple Google search of April 15, 1707 turns up nothing for Euler, but the same search for April 17, 1707 turns up many hits for Euler’s birthday. The stated date of death is also in question in that it also doesn’t match the data stated by others.
I’m just a college sophomore doing research on dead mathematicians, so I am not qualified to draw any conclusions other than, be careful of the facts you find, even in esteemed college databases. Always cross reference your facts!
Source Citation: KNIGHT, JUDSON. “Leonhard Euler.” Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. Eds. Josh Lauer and Neil Schlager. Vol. 4: 1700 To 1799. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 251-252. 8 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Thomson Gale. Nassau Community College Library – SUNY. 9 Apr. 2007
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2 Comments
May 1, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Euler’s birth date was definitely April 15, 1707. That’s well documented in many places: for example, the contemporary eulogies by Fuss and Condorcet or the modern Dictionary of Scientific Biography, which is a very reliable reference. Probably the error is because April 17 was his baptismal date, or maybe it’s just a typo.
There are other typos in the quotation you give. For example, Euler’s family moved to the village of Riehen when he was one year old, not “Reichen.” Euler’s mother’s name was Margaretha, not Marguerite. That’s not exactly a typo: “Marguerite” is the French spelling of the English name Margaret, “Margaretha” is the German spelling. In the 18th century, people freely translated Christian names into other languages rather than preserving the original spelling as we do today. What we learn from this is that Knight probably used a French source for this biography.
I think you got your Google searches backwards. If I Google “April 15, 1707″ and “Euler,” I get over 300 hits. If I Google “April 17, 1707″ and “Euler,” I get 2 hits: one about his baptism and one to this page(!). As for death dates, the problem is that Russia, where Euler died, was still using the Julian Calendar until 1917. So when Euler died, they were 11 days behind the rest of Europe. The date September 9 was the Julian (e.g. Russian) name for the day he died. The same day was called September 18 in France or England. If you look up wikipedia for Euler, you’ll see “(April 15, 1707 – September 18 [O.S. September 7] 1783)” The “O.S.” means “Old Style,” i.e. Julian calendar.
Obviously Jakob Bernoulli, who died 2 years before Euler was born, did not convince Euler’s father “that God had called Leonhard to a different path.” More sloppy research there. People tend to lump Jakob (1654-1705) and Johann (1667-1748) Bernoulli together, because they worked closely together in the 1680s and 1690s. Johann was a contemporary and friend of Euler’s father Paul during their student days. Jakob was Paul’s math professor at the University of Basel. So there’s a connection between Euler’s father and both Bernoulli brothers, but by the time Euler was a student, Jakob was long gone.
I think what we learn here is two things from this piece: (a) the editors of this book (Lauer and Schlager) did not apply sufficient scrutiny in reviewing the article by Knight, and (b) Knight probably used a French source for his biography, but his command of French probably isn’t so good.
May 1, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I wish to thank Dr. Robert Bradley of Adephi University for his contribution.
Dr. Bradley is currently the President of the Euler Society.