1690-1764

Russian mathematician best known for the Goldbach conjecture, which states that "every number greater than 2 is an aggregate of three prime numbers." (At that time, 1 was considered a prime number.) He was named professor of mathematics at the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg but left this position to serve as tutor to Tsar Peter II in Moscow. He was also well known for his work on the theory of curves and the integration of differential equations.