Letter 149 Euler to Razumovsky
Berlin, January 15/26 1751
Synopsis: Euler establishes the ground rules for the St. Petersburg Science Prize. Astronomy is a hot topic.
[...] Your Excellency has just provided me with a new indication of the high esteem that He has by selecting me to examine the papers that are competing for the Imperial Academy of Sciences prize. The question that Your Excellency has proposed for this prize is incontestably of the latest importance, /259r/ and no other Academy can have such pride, having never proposed such a question which has had such a large influence on the perfection of the sciences. Presently, the greatest minds are divided on the subject that Your Excellency has selected; some are of the opinion that Newton's famous theory is sufficient to prove all celestial movement phenomenon, while others say that this theory is only partially accurate with the heavens, and by consequence that it requires a small adjustment. As it is to this theory that astronomy is indebted for all great progress that we have made this century, this controversy is currently of such importance, that we can sorely hope to continue any further in this /260/ science prior to the resolution of the question before the Imperial Academy. Also, there is no doubt that the papers which will still arrive, will not contain all of the requisite enlightenment on the subject; and it will be incumbent to Your Excellency, Monseigneur, and to the Imperial Academy, that we will be indebted for all ulterior progress made in astronomy. At this point I must raise an essential issue, by which the question of the prize distinguishes itself from all the other questions that the other academies have asked until now. For the most part after the distribution of the prize one is as little enlightened on the research matter as before. However, since the Academy requires nothing more than the research in the calculations, even though they are extremely delicate, it will be nearly impossible, after the examination of so many different papers on this topic and of so many ways to define the calculations, that we will remain undecided on this question.
/260r/ As for the first two papers, that Your Excellency had the goodness to forward to me, they are far from the goal, however I will not miss the opportunity to inscribe a short judgment onto each and forward them in good time to the Chancellery as specified by Your Excellency's instructions., to which I will set my standards as exactly as with the other papers that I will still receive.
In recommending with my family to the continued good graces of Your Excellency, I am with a very deep respect[...]
Translated from the French
by J.S.D.Glaus
