The second Petersburg period 1766–1783

Abstract

In December of 1765, in a letter to the Lord High Chancellor Woronzov transmitted by the Russian envoy Prince Dolgoruki at the Berlin court, Euler formulated his conditions under which he would return to the Pe- tersburg Academy. He demanded, to begin with, the position of a vice president; the president should always be a nobleman at the court,but scientific activities were not to be conducted in a chancellery. For these,a vice president — always a first-rate scientist — ought to be responsible. Sec- ondly, Euler requested a yearly salary of 3,000 Rbl. along with free lodging and heat; thirdly, the exemption of any military quartering; in the fourth place,exemption from duty for his entire luggage,and reimbursement of the travel expenses for fourteen persons (not counting the servants); fifthly, for his eldest son Johann Albrecht the physics Chair with an an- nual salary of 1,000 Rbl.,and in the sixth place,adequate positions for his sons Karl and Christoph at medical resp. military institutions.