Table of Contents

The Bernoullis as Huguenots
The Bernoulli Family in Frankfurt and Then Basel
Jacob Makes His First Steps in the Study of Mathematics
His Little Brother Johann "Helps" Jacob with Mathematics
Having Completed His Studies in Philosophy and Theology, Jacob Moves On
Jacob Travels to Geneva and Meets Elizabeth Waldkirch and Her Family
Jacob Teaches Elizabeth Waldkirch to Read and Write Numbers and Words
Sundials, and Tutoring in France
Jacob Meets with Mathematicians in Paris
Jacob Travels to Holland and England
Jacob Settles into Life in Basel to Lecture and Learn
Leibniz’s Calculus vs. Newton’s Fluxions
Johann Bernoulli Grows Up
Two Curves Studied by the Bernoullis: The Isochrone and the Catenary
More Mathematical Challenges from the Bernoullis
Jacob Bernoulli’s Mathematics
Johann Bernoulli Returns to Basel with His Family
Johann Bernoulli’s Son Daniel Grows Up
Daniel Bernoulli, the Paris Prize, and the Longitude Problem
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler’s Early Education
Leonhard Euler Goes to the Latin School in Basel and Then on to the University
Daniel and Nicolaus Bernoulli Receive a Call to the Academy at St. Petersburg
The Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg
Euler Begins His Career and Moves to St. Petersburg
Daniel Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler: An Active Scientific Partnership
The St. Petersburg Paradox
Euler’s Early Work in St. Petersburg
Daniel Returns to Basel, and Leonhard Euler Becomes Professor of Mathematics at St. Petersburg
Daniel Bernoulli: A Famous Scholar
Leonhard Euler: Admired Professor at St. Petersburg
Euler Becomes Blind in His Right Eye
St. Petersburg Loses Euler to Frederick the Great of Prussia
The Eulers Arrive at the Court of Frederick the Great in Berlin
Euler’s Scientific Work in Berlin
Euler’s Work in Number Theory
Magic Squares
Catherine the Great Invites Euler to Return to St. Petersburg
The Basel Clan

About the Author

Tent grew up in western Massachusetts and graduated from Amherst Regional High School and Mt. Holyoke College. She has a second bachelors degree and a masters degree from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Tent retired from teaching middle school mathematics at the Altamont School in June 2007. She is the author of The Prince of Mathematics: Carl Friedrich Gauss and Emmy Noether: The Mother of Modern Algebra.

Reviews

!the story told is interesting, and the author is to be complimented for her efforts to make it as historically accurate as possible. --J. Johnson, CHOICE, June 2010 Tent's attention to detail, both mathematically and historically, is excellent. --Rob Bradley, London Mathematical Society, April 2010 !an interesting and entertaining biography of Leonhard Euler (1707--1783) and of some of the Bernoullis, aimed at middle and high school students ! the book emphasizes day-to-day life and the relations between the mathematicians, especially the forever-squabbling Bernoullis. --MAA Reviews, November 2009