Episode Details

After cataracts left him completely blind, Leonhard Euler kept publishing at an astonishing pace, producing roughly 800 pages a year by dictation. This episode explores the life of the 18th century Swiss polymath whose notation and discoveries underpin modern mathematics, engineering, and network science.

We follow his training under Johann Bernoulli, his first job in the medical department of the St. Petersburg Academy and as a naval medic, his years at Frederick the Great's Berlin court, the Sanssouci fountain controversy, Letters to a German Princess, his return to Catherine the Great's Russia, the fire and personal losses, and his legendary memory.

• How Johann Bernoulli's Saturday sessions built Euler's independence
• Why the failed Sanssouci water jet was likely not Euler's fault
• How he kept working after total blindness through mental calculation
• The notation he popularized, including pi, i, f(x), and e
• How the Königsberg bridge problem launched graph theory and topology