Now I will have less distraction.
(upon losing the use of his right eye)
Quoted in H Eves In Mathematical Circles (Boston 1969).
b. 15 April 1707, Basel, Switzerland
d. 18 Sept 1783, St. Petersburg, Russia
Leonhard Euler is considered to be the father of fluid mechanics and was an amazingly productive writer of mathematics. He advanced modern analytic geometry and trigonometry by considering sin, cos, etc. as functions rather than as chords. He integrated Leibniz's differential calculus and Isaac Newton's method of fluxions into mathematical analysis. He studied the three body problem, continuum mechanics, lunar theory with Clairaut, acoustics, the wave theory of light, hydraulics, elasticity, and music. Euler also laid the foundation of analytical mechanics in his Theory of the Motions of Rigid Bodies (1765).
As for fluid mechanics, Euler laid the formulas for the continuity equation, the Laplace velocity potential equation, and the Euler equations for the motion of an inviscid incompressible fluid.
Background
Euler went to a second-rate school in Basel that had no mathematics (and probably no heat, and bad plumbing...and no sense of fashion!), so he studied texts on his own and soon began private study with Johann Bernoulli, one of the venerable Bernoulli family. Actually, Leonhard's father, Paul, had lived with Johann in older brother Jakob's house when they were ungraduates. So Johann cut Leonhard a twig.
Euler studied philosophy and theology and completed his studies at the University of Basel by 1726, by which time he had a short article published on isochronous curves in a resisting medium. In 1727 he published another article on reciprocal trajectories and submitted an entry for the 1727 Grand Prize of the Paris Academy on the best arrangement of masts on a ship (which won second place). In Russia he continued the tradition of Euler-Bernoulli flat-sharing when he lived with Daniel Bernoulli. He made full physics professor at St. Petersburg in 1730. His career to this point is summarized below:
... after 1730 he carried out state projects dealing with cartography, science education, magnetism, fire engines, machines, and ship building. The core of his research program was now set in place: number theory; infinitary analysis including its emerging branches, differential equations and the calculus of variations; and rational mechanics. He viewed these three fields as intimately interconnected. Studies of number theory were vital to the foundations of calculus, and special functions and differential equations were essential to rational mechanics, which supplied concrete problems. - Historia Mathematica 23 (1996), 121-166.
Euler then went to Berlin to work at the Berlin Academy, where he
... supervised the observatory and the botanical gardens; selected the personnel oversaw various financial matters; and, in particular, managed the publication of various calendars and geographical maps, the sale of which was a source of income for the Academy. The king (Frederick the Great) also charged Euler with practical problems, such as the project in 1749 of correcting the level of the Finow Canal ... At that time he also supervised the work on pumps and pipes of the hydraulic system at Sans Souci, the royal summer residence. - Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990).
A shout-out to the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, for most of the info.
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