Leonhard Euler, who in 1726 completed a dissertation on the propagation of sound with the title De Sono, is pursuing an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt at this time to obtain a position at the University of Basel.

Around this time Johann Bernoulli's two sons, Daniel and Nicolas, are working at the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

Nicolas had died of appendicitis on July 10, 1726, after spending a year in Russia, and when Daniel assumed his brother's position in the mathematics/physics division, he recommended that the post in physiology that he had vacated be filled by his friend Euler.

Euler eagerly had accepted the offer in November 1726, but has delayed making the trip to St Petersburg while he unsuccessfully applies for a physics professorship at the University of Basel.

Born on April 15, 1707, in Basel to Paul Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church, his mother is Marguerite Brucker, a pastor's daughter.

He has two younger sisters named Anna Maria and Maria Magdalena.

Soon after the birth of Leonhard, the Eulers had moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, where Euler has spent most of his childhood.

Paul Euler is a friend of the Bernoulli family—Johann Bernoulli, who is at this time regarded as Europe's foremost mathematician, will eventually be the most important influence on young Leonhard.

Euler's early formal education had started in Basel, where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother.

He had enrolled at the age of thirteen at the University of Basel, and in 1723 had received his Master of Philosophy with a dissertation that compared the philosophies of Descartes and Newton.

He was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons at this time from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics.

Euler was at this point studying theology, Greek, and Hebrew at his father's urging, in order to become a pastor, but Bernoulli had persuaded Paul Euler that Leonhard is destined to become a great mathematician.