A Textbook Fit for a Princess

By: Melissa Barrick

Hood College

Frederick, MD

Leonhard Euler 1707-1783

Princess Charlotte Ludovica Luisa

Born in 1745 in Berlin Second Cousin of

Frederick the Great Daughter of Margrave

Friedrich Heinrich von Brandenburg-Schwedt

klavier

The First LetterApril 19, 1760

Of Magnitude, or Extension

Units of Measure Distance Problems

The distance from Berlin to Magdeburg is 83 miles or 438,240 feet.

Of Magnitude, or Extension

The distance from earth to the sun is 95,568,000 miles or 12,000 diameters of the earth

“Besides the Earth, there are ten other similar bodies, named planets, which revolve round the sun; two of them at smaller distances, Mercury and Venus; and eight at greater distances, namely, Mars, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgium Sidus.”

Of the Perfection of Language

Propositions: Affirmative and Universal

Every A is B Negative and Universal

No A is B Affirmative and Particular

Some A is B Negative and Particular

Some A is not B

February 14, 1761

Syllogisms

Let A represent trees and B represent oaks.

Euler Diagrams

Electrization of Men and Animals

“It may sometimes be highly beneficial to have the blood and humours raised to

a more lively circulation; certain obstructions, which threaten dangerous

consequences, might thereby be prevented; but on other occasions an

ablation too violent might prove injurious to health. The subject certainly

well deserves the attention of medical gentlemen.”

July 18, 1761

The Future of the Letters

Dibner Library, Smithsonian Institute

A Worldwide Text

The textbook was published in many languages:French (12 editions)Russian (4 editions)English (9 editions)German (6 editions)Italian, Dutch, Spanish

The First English Translation

Translated by the Rev. Dr. Henry Hunter

1802 2 volumes

A Famous Preface

First English Translator, Henry Hunter, wrote a famous preface

“I was mortified to reflect that the specious and seductive productions of a Rousseau, and the poisonous effusions of a Voltaire, should be in the hands of so many young men, not to say young women, to the perversion of the understanding, and the corruption of the moral principle, while the simple and useful instructions of the virtuous Euler were hardly mentioned.”

Women’s Education

“Euler wrote these Letters for the instruction of a young and sensible female, and in the same view that they were written, they are translated, namely, the improvement of the female mind; an object of what importance to the world! I rejoice to think I have lived to see female education conducted on a more liberal and enlarged plan.”

“They are now treated as rational beings, and society is already the better for it.”

Another English Edition

1833 David Brewster

NotesBiography of Euler

John GriscomGlossary

American School Library

The Letters in 2007

Libraries and Rare Book CollectionsLibrary of CongressSmithsonian Institute

American School Library Google Books

Acknowledgements Hood College Summer Research Institute

Dr. Mayfield, Hood College Dr. Tysdal, Hood College Chelsea Sprankle, Lindsey Nagy, and

Laura Printz Pi Mu Epsilon, MD Delta Chapter Dr. Ronald Calinger, Catholic University Dr. Peggy Kidwell, Smithsonian Institute Dr. Victor Katz Dr. William Dunham Dr. Allen Flora, Hood College Constance Carter, Library of Congress Kirsten Van der Veen, Dibner Library

References Alexanderson, G. L. “Ars Expositionis: Euler as Writer and Teacher.” Mathematics Magazine Nov. 1983:

274-78. Burckhardt, J. J. “Leonhard Euler, 1707-1783” Mathematics Magazine November 1983: 261-73. Calinger, Ronald. “Euler’s Letters to a Princess of Germany as an expression of his mature scientific

outlook.” Archive for History of Exact Sciences 1975: 211-33. Calinger, Ronald S. and John Glaus. “Leonhard Euler 1707-1783, Switzerland’s Foremost Scientific

Expatriate.” The Euler Society. Dunham, William. The Genius of Euler: Reflections on his Life and Work. Mathematical Association of

America, 2007. Euler, Leonhard. Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique & de philosophie.

Saint Petersburg: l’Academie Impériale des Sciences, 1768. Euler, Leonhard. Letters of Euler on Different Subject of Physics and Philosophy Addressed to a

German Princess. Trans. Henry Hunter. London: Murray and Highley 1802. Euler, Leonhard. Letters of Euler on Different Subject of Natural Philosophy Addressed to a German

Princess. Trans. David Brewster, John Griscom. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833. Finkel, B. F. “Biography: Leonhard Euler.” The American Mathematical Monthly December 1897: 297-

302. O’Keefe, Doris. “Publisher’s Series.” American Antiquarian Society. 2 September 2004. 17 July 2007. <

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/pubseries.htm> “The Electric Ben Franklin.” US History.org. 4 July 1995. 24 July 2007.

<http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm>