June 20, 2018 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
Enticing Lagrange to Berlin
It is interesting for me to know that not
only did Euler, Lagrange, Maupertuis and
d’Alembert coexisted in the same time and corresponded rather well with each
other, but they even cooperated to help each other not only in the matters of
mathematics and philosophy but also in the more mundane but necessary field of
professional career.
Both Euler and Maupertuis were in Berlin
and were in control of the Prussian Academy of Science and in an attempt both
to add a jewel in the crown of the Prussian Academy and also to boost the
professional life of their colleague they invited Lagrange to join them there.
Lagrange was always shy and modest and declined
their offer.
Jean d’Alembert too by that time (1746) had
been elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences and he had a word with
Frederick II, the King of Prussia (imagine a mathematician having direct
contact with the King!) to invite Lagrange into the academy which the King did
but once again Lagrange politely declined stating that “It seems to me that
Berlin would be not at all suitable for me while M. Euler is there.”
It’s hard for me to grasp the intention or
the sentiment behind this statement; was it one of ego clashing or was it one
of humility and deference to a superior mind or a combination of both?
It is difficult to say.
Lagrange instead left for Saint Petersburg
where Euler too had spent a great deal of time (1727 to 1741 supported by
Catherine I) after which he had taken up the post at Berlin thanks once again
to the invitation of Frederick II.
Fredrick II on assuming the throne of the
Kingdom of Prussia in 1740 made strident effort to revive the Prussian Academy
of Sciences which was lagging behind its counterparts in London and Paris.
During his father’s reign the academy had
been closed down for economic reasons but Fredrick II immediately revived it
and even made French the official language of the Academy.
In the Eighteenth Century, French was the
English equivalent of today in the world of intelligentsia and natural philosophy.
It was he who actively and personally
accosted brilliant minds of Europe from other countries such as Euler and
Lagrange and did his best to make them stay put in his Kingdom.
Like Euler (25 years), Lagrange too had a
long stay in the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin (20 years) after Fredrick
II finale managed to entice him by writing to Lagrange that ‘the greatest king
of Europe” wished to have “the greatest mathematician of Europe” in his
Academy.
It was in these twenty years, starting from
1766 that Lagrange was most prolific and it was in this period that he
published his masterpiece ‘Mécanique analytique’.
Not only that, Lagrange was close to the
king, and Frederick II would often discuss several things with him including
the advantages of leading a perfectly regular life akin to a mechanical robot.
This idea proposed by the king influenced
Lagrange who began to study his own mind and body as a machine and experimented
upon himself by trying to estimate how much he was able to do mathematical work
without breaking down.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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