ABSTRACT
Euler gave his fi rst lecture at the academy when he was 21 years old in 1728, only two months after he had arrived in St. Petersburg. At the time he was an untried scholar facing an impressive, erudite audience. e problem that he was addressing had been posed by his friend Nicolaus Bernoulli-Daniel ’s older brother-before his untimely death. Euler intended it as a tribute to the brilliant Nicolaus , who would certainly have addressed the problem himself if he had lived long enough.
