Leonhard Euler: Mathematical Genius in the Enlightenment by Ronald S. Calinger

Author:Ronald S. Calinger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Botany and Maps

Among Euler’s many tasks at the academy in 1751 were overseeing the progress of the observatory, which was nearing completion; seeking the publication for subscribers in Berlin of Uranographia Britannica, an astronomical atlas by the English physician and amateur astronomer John Bevis;49 requesting copies of Edmond Halley’s publications on trade winds and magnetic needles; ordering plants; and preparing and distributing for sale the academy’s almanacs, calendars, and geographical maps, still the main source of its funding. In these and many other scientific tasks, his correspondence with Johann Kaspar Wettstein—who though not a geometer or natural philosopher displayed a wide knowledge of the sciences—was important. Information in the correspondence flowed both ways. Euler was able to provide the British scientific world with firsthand information on the Continental academies. The Uranographia was finished by 1750, but the publisher went bankrupt; it was not printed until 1786.

In a speech Euler branded botany as an unimportant trifle. He gave it only limited support, considering it last in his department, and proclaimed that for solving problems only mathematics in principle deserved financial support. He had little to do with Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, the guiding spirit and director of the botanical gardens and the small mulberry plantation outside Berlin. With the academy still short on funds, Euler found ten thousand thaler to pay for having the plantation walls repaired and through Wettstein ordered mulberry seeds and 220 bushes from Virginia and Canada; he prized the Virginia bushes for having the largest leaves. In June Euler recognized that these plants were not available in London but might be found in France. He needed them early in the planting season, and they would be grafted the next year with older, local plants. The garden and plantation became popular sites for visitors. To line the avenues around the academy, Euler ordered a dozen kinds of trees, including two types of tulip trees, an ash, a cedar, and a Virginia cypress. He later requested exotic plants, some of which perished, mainly from exposure during transportation. But two magnolias from Virginia and most of the fruit trees survived. In July Euler’s comments to Wettstein on the start of the planting season and in October on moving mulberry bushes near the end of the season suggest an interest in plant science. In carrying out his many tasks at the academy, Euler had to work with accountants, builders, carpenters, gardeners, printers, tax collectors, and technicians.

His correspondence with Wettstein deals often with Euler’s desire for tobacco, his preference being for the Virginia leaf. In April 1751 his supply ran out, and in June he was reduced to smoking inferior types. Euler had earlier loaned to Grischow, then at the Imperial Academy in Saint Petersburg, some tobacco and books intended for his own use. Once Grischow received his salary, he quickly repaid the loan. In July Euler requested twelve pounds of tobacco. Since the price was uncertain, he recommended that it be paid out of income from books sent to Wettstein for sale. In October he expressed gratitude that his supply of tobacco had arrived.

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