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Loci: Convergence

Euler Tercentenary Year

by Victor J. Katz

Basel

Since 2007 is the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Leonhard Euler, numerous organizations wordwide are organizing celebrations.  The following is a necessarily incomplete listing.

 

The Leonhard Euler Tercentenary - Basel

Date                                           Event

March 6                                      Issue of the Euler stamp

March 16 - June 9                       Exhibition:  Leonhard Euler and the delights of science

                                                  at the Public Library of Basel University

April 15                                       Tercentenary of Euler's birth

April 20                                       Celebration Ceremony  at St. Martin's Church, Basel

April-June                                    Interdisciplinary course of university lectures

May 31 - June 1                          International Euler Symposium

June 2- September 23                Exhibition  on mathematics - Natural History Museum

September 13                             Concert  at St. Peter's Church, Basel

September 13-14                        Congress  of the Swiss Academy of Sciences

                  

For more information on the activities in Basel, click here.

 

St. Petersburg

Celebration of Leonard Euler’s Tercentenary - St. Petersburg

 

I.   Issue of the commemorative envelope and coin on the occasion of the tercentenary of L. Euler

 

II.   A documentary devoted to Leonard Euler’s 300th anniversary of birth

Organizer:    L. Euler Foundation

 

III.  May 14 – Commemoration on the tomb of L. Euler in the  XVIII c. necropolis of Alexander Nevsky Laura;

Ceremonial session of St. Petersburg Research Center

                     

IV.   May 14-17 – International conference  «L. Euler and modern science»

Organizers of the conference: St. Petersburg Research Centre RAS, Institute for the History of Science and Technology RAS, St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of RAS, St. Petersburg Mathematical Society, M. V. Lomonosov Museum - a department of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography RAS, The Library of RAS and St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg State University of Information Technology, Mechanics and Optics by the assistance of the Committee on Science and Higher Education under the Government of St. Petersburg.

 

IV.   May  -  «L. Euler – our contemporary» 

A symposium of young researchers – laureates of Euler prizes and grants.

Organizer: St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics

During June and July, the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Scientific Center of RAS, St. Petersburg Department of the V. A. Steklov Mathematical Institute, Euler International Mathematical Institute, St. Petersburg State University, and Euler Foundation organize a special congress on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Leonhard Euler's birth. The Congress is supported by the Government of Russia and the local authorities of St. Petersburg.

The Congress will include the Euler Festival (10-12 June, 2007), and a series of satellite conferences (see below for a tentative list). The main event (10-12 June) will comprise a celebration meeting at the 10th June, and several invited talks related to Euler's tremendous scientific activity. The list of invited speakers will be announced in the near future.

The Congress will be held at the St. Petersburg Department of the V. A. Steklov Mathematical Institute and the Euler International Mathematical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia.

We ask our colleagues who are interested in attending the event to inform us about this. More information and an application form can be found by clicking here.  One can also use the email address: euler300@imi.ras.ru.

The Local Organizing Committee

  • L.D.Faddeev
  • E.A.Tropp
  • I.A.Ibragimov
  • S.V.Kislyakov
  • G.A.Leonov
  • Yu.V.Matiyasevich
  • Yu.D.Burago
  • V.A.Gritsenko
  • G.A.Seregin
  • V.N.Tolstykh
  • A.M.Vershik
  • S.V.Vostokov
  • P.G.Zograf

List of Conferences

Further Information:  euler300@imi.ras.ru

 

 

 

MAA Activities

The MAA has much planned in connection with Euler's tercentenary.  There are several books being published, several special lectures at the MAA and at the Swiss embassy, and numerous other special events. 

  • The shortcourse, "Leonhard Euler: Looking Back after 300 Years," was offered on January 3-4 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings inNew Orleans.
  • The 2007 MAA Mathematical Study Tour is devoted to Euler. The trip, July 1-14, will visit Basel, St. Petersburg and Berlin. Additional information on the trip is at www.maa.org/euler_trip/
  • In celebration of Leonhard Euler's 300th birthday, the Mathematical Association of America will be releasing six new books dedicated to one of history's greatest mathematicians.

    Three are available now:
"The Genius of Euler: Reflections on his Life and Work," edited by William Dunham
This book celebrates the 300th birthday of Leonhard Euler (1707–1783),one of the brightest stars in the mathematical firmament. The book stands as a testimonial to a mathematician of unsurpassed insight, industry, and ingenuity––one who has been rightly called “the master of us all.” The collected articles,aimed at a mathematically literate audience, address aspects of Euler’s life andwork, from the biographical to the historical to the mathematical. The oldest of these was written in 1872, and the most recent dates to 2006.
"The Early Mathematics of Leonhard Euler," by Edward Sandifer
The Early Mathematics of Leonhard Euler gives an article-by-article description of Leonhard Euler’s early mathematical works, the 50 or so mathematical articles he wrote before he left St. Petersburg in 1741 to join the Academy of Frederick the Great in Berlin.  These early pieces contain some of Euler’s greatest work, the Königsberg bridge problem, his solution to the Basel problem, and his first proof of the Euler-Fermat theorem.  It also presents important results that we seldom realize are due to Euler; that mixed partial derivatives are (usually) equal, our f(x) notation, and the integrating factor in differential equations. 
"Euler: The Master of Us All," by William Dunham
Written for the mathematically literate reader, this book provides a glimpse of Euler in action. Following an introductory biographical sketch are chapters describing his contributions to eight different topics—number theory, logarithms, infinite series, analytic number theory, complex variables, algebra, geometry, and combinatorics. At the end of the book is a brief outline of Euler’s collected works, the monumental Opera Omnia, whose publication has consumed virtually all of the twentieth century.
Two more are in production:
  • "How Euler Did It," by C. Edward Sandifer
  • "The Evolution of Euler’s Ideas and Modern Science," edited by N. N.  Boglyubov, G. K. Mikhauilov.  & A. P. Yushkevich (Translated from the Russian)
The sixth book is under development. Information will be posted here when available.
  • As part of the 2007 PREP summer workshop series, Bill Dunham will organize a workshop, "The Genius of Euler," based partly on his book. Information about the workshop series is available at www.maa.org/prep/2007. On March 6, Prof. Dunham will be at the MAA Carriage House for a discussion and book signing.
  • SPECIAL LECTURE

    In anticipation of Swiss mathematician and scientist Leonhard Euler’s 300th birthday in April, Bill Dunham, Editor of "The Genius of Euler: Reflections on his Life and Work" will lead a program titled “The Genius of Euler” based partly on his book.

    Monday, March 5, 6:30 pm, at the Embassy of Switzerland, 2900 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Vin d’honneur to follow. Reservations required at 202 745-7928/29 or culture@was.rep.admin.ch.

    Tuesday, March 6, 6:30 pm, at the MAA Carriage House, on Church St immediately behind MAA Headquarters at 1529 Eighteenth St NW, Washington, DC. Reception to follow. Click here to RSVP for this event.

    Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783) stands as a towering figure from the long history of mathematics. Born and educated in Basel, Switzerland, Euler went on to positions at the St. Petersburg Academy in Russia and the Berlin Academy in Germany, where he built a mathematical legacy remarkable for its quantity, its variety, and its enduring significance. While contributing to all existing branches of the subject (and inventing a few others along the way), he published over 25,000 pages of pure and applied mathematics — a record unlikely to be matched.

    Our program begins with a survey of Euler's life and a (non-technical) description of some of his achievements. Then there will be time for questions, comments, and a book signing — all in celebration of the tercentenary of this great mathematician.

    Dr. William Dunham, Koehler Professor of Mathematics at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, is the author of four books with a mathematical/historical flavor: Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics (Wiley, 1990), The Mathematical Universe (Wiley, 1994), Euler: The Master of Us All (MAA, 1999), and The Calculus Gallery: Masterpieces from Newton to Lebesgue (Princeton, 2005). Most recently, he has edited a book in honor of Euler’s 300th birthday titled The Genius of Euler: Reflections on His Life and Work (MAA, 2007).

  • The Euler Archive: Illuminating the Life and Times of Leonhard Euler
    A special program sponsored by the Embassy of Switzerland and the Mathematical Association of America

    April 16, 2007, 6:30 PM - Embassy of Switzerland, 2900 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

    Reservations required at 202 745-7928/29 or culture@was.rep.admin.ch

    Leonhard Euler is one of the greatest and most prolific scholars in history. Born in Basel, Switzerland in 1707, he became a towering figure in the scientific world of the European Enlightenment. This year, we celebrate the 300th anniversary of Euler's birth and his many contributions to mathematics and the sciences. During his lifetime, Euler wrote hundreds of works in mathematics, not only contributing to every branch known at that time, but also developing entirely new fields of research. In the sciences, Euler investigated a wide variety of topics, including mechanics, naval science, cartography, astronomy, acoustics, optics, and more.

    The Euler Archive (www.EulerArchive.org), an online resource created to facilitate the 21st century study of Leonhard Euler and his work, provides access to nearly all of Euler's original works, as well as references to available translations and modern Euler scholarship. The broad range of materials in this dynamic library also provides insight into the personal life of Leonhard Euler by including biographical resources, selected correspondence, and more. Scholars around the world have contributed their knowledge and expertise to the Euler Archive, thus making it a virtual center for Euler scholarship.

    In this talk, the Euler Archive will be used to survey some of the highlights of the life and times of Leonhard Euler: his family and colleagues, his involvement with scientific academies, his publications and correspondence, and the influence of his work in the sciences today.
  • The Euler Society will meet at the MAA summer meeting, MathFest, August 3-5, in San Jose, CA

To find out more, click on http://www.maa.org/euler/.

Other Activities

March 14 - Lecture "D'une lettre oubliée d'Euler (1707-1783) à la combinatoire et à la physique contemporaine" by Xavier Viennot at the BNF in Paris

May 2- October 28 - «Euler, l'imagination souveraine» at the Musée d'histoire des sciences, Geneva

June 18-23 - Euler Equations: 250 Years On  This meeting celebrates the 250th anniversary of the publication of Euler's Principes Généraux du Mouvement des Fluides (General Principles of the Motion of Fluids). This article first introduced the celebrated Euler equations of fluid motion and arguably started modern hydrodynamics, which is still a very vigorous area of research with many applications and many open problems.

July 1-14 - The MAA's annual mathematical study tour will be an Euler tour, visiting Basel, Berlin, and St. Petersburg.

July 18 - Euler lecture by W. Gautschi at the ICIAM

July 27-29 - The Canadian Society of History and Philosophy of Mathematics Annual Meeting will be held in conjuction with the   British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) at Concordia University, Montreal. In addition to the general session, the meeting will include special sessions on Euler and John Fauvel. The Kenneth May Lecture will be given by Ed Sandifer.

August 3-5 - The Euler Society will hold its annual meeting in connection with MathFest

 

The website of the Leonhard Euler tercentenary in Basel has additional listings, including publications.

 


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