Euler and d’Alembert—Brothers Only in Mind
Euler and d’Alembert—Brothers Only in Mind

Summary/Abstract: Euler and d’Alembert did not only essentially influence the intellectual life of the 18th century but also especially the fortune of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin and of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. If one compares the origins and the childhoods of these two outstanding representatives of the European Enlightenment, a greater difference can hardly be imagined. Euler was religiously educated in a Protestant family of a parish priest who published writings against the hated freethinkers as the leading mathematician of his time. D’Alembert was a foundling who grew up in the household of a master craftsman and became the leading freethinker of the French Enlightenment and an equal rival of Euler as far as analytical mechanics was concerned. Their dealings with King Frederick II of Prussia and Empress Catherine II of Russia were also completely different. While Euler gained the respect, but never the favour of the King, d’Alembert enjoyed the friendship of Frederick II without ever giving up his independence. While d’Alembert politely refused all offers of the Empress, Euler returned to St. Petersburg after Catherine had fulfilled all of his demanding claims.

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