300th anniversary celebration of Leonhard Euler in Boston

 

The Consulate of Switzerland/ SHARE Boston invites you to celebrate one of Switzerland’s greatest talents - Leonhard Euler’s 300th anniversary on April 16, 2007

 

"Everybody else thinks of April 15 as tax day, but if you study Euler, you think of it as Euler's birthday," said Rob Bradley, a math professor at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y.

Who? You know, Leonhard Euler (pronounced Oiler), one of the world's most prolific mathematicians and "intellectual ancestor" of Sudoku, a logic puzzle of squares that has become highly popular in recent years. "No matter what part of mathematics people are in, they can trace the roots of it or a big part of the development of it to this blind Swiss guy who lived back in the 18th century," said Dennis DeTurck, dean of the college of arts and sciences and professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. Euler discovered how water flows. His work was key in the construction of ships so they could move faster. He designed the perfect shape for teeth on a gear. He developed the equations needed to make accurate lunar tables to determine longitude at sea. He calculated the moment of inertia, a key principle in the design of machines. And his fans like to note that he was a nice guy and an adept writer - another feat uncommon for mathematicians.

So after you ran the Boston marathon, you can challenge your brain by joining us in a lively time travel: back to the future.

Together with Dominic Klyve, a Dartmouth University graduate student who took precious time away from his doctoral studies to upload most of Euler's works in their original form online – the Euler Archives, we will rediscover Leonhard Euler in a historical context as well as his implications on today’s technologies. Additionally, Anja Kollmuss and her Renaissance Ensemble will set us in the right mood.

 

* quotes taken from: Math circles primed for idol's 300th birthday, by Susan Snyder, The Philadelphia Inquirer , Jan. 29, 2007.