User:Canesandpeace/Christian Goldbach

Early Studies
Born March 18th, 1690 in the Duchy of Prussia's capital Königsberg, part of Brandenburg-Prussia, Goldbach was the son of a pastor. He studied law and medicine at the Royal Albertus University. After finishing his studies he went on long educational voyages from 1710 to 1724 through Europe, visiting other German states, England, The Netherlands, Italy, and France, meeting with many famous mathematicians, such as Gottfried Leibniz, Leonhard Euler, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Nicholas I Bernoulli. These acquaintances started Goldbach's interest in mathematics. He briefly attended Oxford University in 1713 and while he was there Goldbach learned mathematics from mathematical scholars John Wallis and Isaac Newton. Also, Goldbach's travels fostered his interest in philology, archaelogy, metaphysics, ballistics, and medicine. Between 1717 and 1724 Goldbach published his first few papers which, while minor, credited his mathematical ability. Back in Königsberg in 1724, he got acquainted with Georg Bernhard Bilfinger and Jakob Hermann, both of whom were on their way to the new St Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Goldbach followed Bilfinger and Hermann to the newly opened St Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1725. Christian Wolff had invited and wrote recommendations for all the Germans who traveled to Saint Petersburg for the academy except Goldbach. Goldbach wrote to the president-designate of the academy, petitioning for a position in the academy, using his past publications and knowledge in medicine and law as qualifications. Goldbach was then hired to a five-year contract as a professor of mathematics and historian of the academy. As historian of the academy, he recorded each academy meeting from the opening of the school in 1725 until January 1728. Goldbach worked with famous mathematicians like Leonhard Euler, Daniel Bernoulli, Johann Bernoulli, and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Goldbach also played a part in Euler's decision to academically pursue mathematics instead of medicine, cementing mathematics as the premier research field of the academy in the 1730's.

Russian Government Work
In 1728, when Peter II became Tsar of Russia, Goldbach became Peter II and Peter II's cousin Anna's tutor, moving with the Russian court from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Goldbach started a correspondence with Euler in 1729, in which some of Goldbach's most important mathematics contributions can be found. Upon Peter II's death in 1730, Goldbach stopped teaching but continued to assist Empress Anna. In 1732, Goldbach returned to the Academy of Sciences and stayed in the Russian government when Anna moved the court back to St. Petersburg. Upon return to the academy, Goldbach was named corresponding secretary. With Goldbach's return, his friend Euler continued his teaching and research at the academy as well. Then, in 1737, Goldbach and J.D. Schumacher took over the administration of the academy. Also, Goldbach took on duty in Russian court under Empress Anna. He managed to retained his influence in court after the death of Anna and the rule of Empress Elizabeth. In 1742 he entered the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stepping way from the academy once more. Goldbach was gifted land and increased salary for his rise in the government. In 1760, Goldbach created new guidelines for the education of the royal children which would remain for 100 years. He died on 20 November 1764, at age of 74, in Moscow.

Professional Work
Christian Goldbach was multilingual – he wrote a diary in German and Latin, his letters were written in German, Latin, French, and Italian. For official documents he used Russian, German and Latin. He sent and received letters from numerous famous mathematicians at various times in his life. For two years he kept in communication with Leibniz after they met in 1711. He also corresponded with Nikolaus and Daniel Bernoulli in the early 1720's, discussing mathematical concepts such as Fibonacci numbers.

Relationship with Euler
However, it is Goldbach and Euler's correspondence that contains Goldbach's most important contributions to mathematics, specifically number theory. Goldbach and Euler's friendship survived Goldbach's move to Moscow and communication ensued. Their correspondence spanned 196 letters over 35 years written in Latin, German, and French. These letters spanned a wide range of topics, including various mathematics topics. Goldbach was the leading influence on Euler's interest and work in number theory. Most of the letters discuss Euler's research in number theory as well as differential calculus. Until the late 1750's, Euler's correspondence on his number theory research was almost exclusively with Goldbach. Goldbach's eariler mathematical work and ideas in letters to Euler directly influenced some of Euler's work. In 1729, Euler solved two problems pertaining to sequences which had stumped Goldbach. Ensuingly, Euler outlined the solutions to Goldbach. Also, in 1729 Goldbach closely approximated the Basel problem, which prompted Euler's interest and concurring breakthrough solution. Goldbach, through his letters, kept Euler focused on number theory in the 1730's by discussing Fermat's conjecture with Euler. Euler subsequently offered a proof to the conjecture, crediting Goldbach with introducing him to the subfield. Euler proceeded to write 560 writings, published posthumously in four volumes of Opera omnia, with Goldbach's influence guiding some of the writings.

As far as Goldbach's most remembered contribution to mathematics, it came from his correspondence with Euler. In a 1742 letter to Euler, Goldbach proposed a conjecture, now called Goldbach's conjecture, which he is remembered for. Goldbach's famous conjecture and his writings with Euler prove him to be one of a hanful of mathematics who understood complex number theory in light of Fermat's revolutionary ideas on the topic.