Abstract

At the start of their correspondence, Euler's royal pupil - the German princess - had little or no knowledge of natural philosophy and mathematics. The letters in this text show how Euler takes his pupil back to the basic notions of distance, time and velocity. Euler then progresses onto the more difficult topics of physics: light and colour; sound; gravity; electricity; and magnetism. From physics, he leads on to natural philosophy: the nature of matter; the origin of forces; and the rival worldviews of Newtonians and Cartesians. Here Euler seeks to separate the mathematical achievement of Newton, about which he had doubts and reservations, from the physical interpretation put on his work by others.