Leonhard Euler spent the majority of his productive career in St. Petersburg, where he joined the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1727 and — despite losing sight in his right eye by 1738 and going almost completely blind by 1766 — continued producing mathematics at a rate that embarrassed most sighted contemporaries. Russia issued this coin to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth. The Bank of Russia has long used its commemorative silver program to claim Euler as essentially Russian, a framing his native Basel has never fully conceded.
Leonhard Euler spent the majority of his productive career in St. Petersburg, where he joined the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1727 and — despite losing sight in his right eye by 1738 and going almost completely blind by 1766 — continued producing mathematics at a rate that embarrassed most sighted contemporaries. Russia issued this coin to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth. The Bank of Russia has long used its commemorative silver program to claim Euler as essentially Russian, a framing his native Basel has never fully conceded.