The rapid development of gravitational astronomy that ensued between this time and the beginning of the 19th century was almost entirely the work of five great Continental mathematicians, Euler, Clairaut, D’Alembert, Lagrange, and Laplace, of whom the eldest was born in 1707 and the youngest died in 1827, within a month of the centenary of Newton’s death. Euler was a Swiss, Lagrange was of Italian birth but French by extraction and to a great extent by adoption, and the other three were entirely French. France therefore during nearly the whole of the 18th century reigned supreme in gravitational astronomy, and has not lost her supremacy even to-day, though during the present century America, England, Germany, Italy, and other countries have all made substantial contributions to the subject.
It is convenient to consider first the work of the three first-named astronomers, and to treat later Lagrange and Laplace, who carried gravitational astronomy to a decidedly higher stage of development than their predecessors.
230. _Leonhard Euler_ was born at Basle in 1707, 14 years later than Bradley and six years earlier than Lacaille. He was the son of a Protestant minister who had studied mathematics under _James Bernouilli_ (1654-1705), the first of a famous family of mathematicians. Leonhard Euler himself was a favourite pupil of John Bernouilli (the younger brother of James), and was an intimate friend of his two sons, one of whom, _Daniel_ (1700-1782), was not only a distinguished mathematician like his father and uncle, but was also the first important Newtonian outside Great Britain. Like so many other astronomers, Euler began by studying theology, but was induced both by his natural tastes and by the influence of the Bernouillis to turn his attention to mathematics. Through the influence of Daniel Bernouilli, who had recently been appointed to a professorship at St. Petersburg, Euler received and accepted an invitation to join the newly created Academy of Sciences there (1727). This first appointment carried with it a stipend, and the duties were the general promotion of science; subsequently Euler undertook more definite professorial work, but most of his energy during the whole of his career was devoted to writing mathematical papers, the majority of which were published by the St. Petersburg Academy. Though he took no part in politics, Russian autocracy appears to have been oppressive to him, reared as he had been among Swiss and Protestant surroundings; and in 1741 he accepted an invitation from Frederick the Great, a despot of a less pronounced type, to come to Berlin, and assist in reorganising the Academy of Sciences there. On being reproached one day by the Queen for his taciturn and melancholy demeanour, he justified his silence on the ground that he had just come from a country where speech was liable to lead to hanging;[132] but notwithstanding this frank criticism he remained on good terms with the Russian court, and continued to draw his stipend as a member of the St. Petersburg Academy and to contribute to its Transactions. Moreover, after 25 years spent at Berlin, he accepted a pressing invitation from the Empress Catherine II. and returned to Russia (1766).