# Nicolas Fuss

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{{Short description|Swiss mathematician (1755–1826)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Nicolas Fuss
| image             = UBH Portr BS Fuss N 1755 1 (cropped).jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1755|01|29|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [Basel](/source/Basel), Switzerland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1826|01|04|1755|01|30|df=y}}
| death_place       = [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg), Russia
| fields            = [Mathematics](/source/Mathematics)
| workplaces        = 
| alma_mater        = 
| academic_advisors = [Leonhard Euler](/source/Leonhard_Euler)
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = 
| awards            = 
}}
'''Nicolas Fuss''' (29 January 1755 – 4 January 1826), also known as '''Nikolai Fuss''', was a Swiss [mathematician](/source/mathematician), living most of his life in [Russia](/source/Russian_Empire).

==Biography==
Fuss was born in [Basel](/source/Basel), Switzerland. He moved to [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg) to serve as a mathematical assistant to [Leonhard Euler](/source/Leonhard_Euler) from 1773–1783, and remained there until his death.  He contributed to [spherical trigonometry](/source/spherical_trigonometry), [differential equation](/source/differential_equation)s, the optics of [microscope](/source/microscope)s and [telescope](/source/telescope)s, [differential geometry](/source/differential_geometry), and [actuarial science](/source/actuarial_science). He also contributed to [Euclidean geometry](/source/Euclidean_geometry), including the [problem of Apollonius](/source/problem_of_Apollonius).

In 1797, he was elected a foreign member of the [Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences](/source/Royal_Swedish_Academy_of_Sciences). From 1800 to 1826, Fuss served as the permanent secretary to the [Imperial Academy of Sciences](/source/Imperial_Academy_of_Sciences) in Saint Petersburg. He was elected as a foreign honorary member of the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1812.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> He died in Saint Petersburg.

== Family ==
Nicolas Fuss was married to Albertine Benedikte Philippine Luise Euler (1766–1822). Albertine Euler was the daughter of Leonhard Euler's eldest son, Johann Albrecht Euler (1734–1800), and his wife, Anna Sophie Charlotte Hagemeister. Pauline Fuss, a daughter of Nicolas and Albertine, married the Russian chemist [Genrikh Struve](/source/Genrikh_Struve). Nicolas's son, [Paul Heinrich Fuss](/source/Paul_Heinrich_Fuss) (1798–1855),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz18114.html#ndbcontent_sfz19018|title=Fuß}}</ref> edited the first attempt at a collected works of [Euler](/source/Leonhard_Euler).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eulerarchive.maa.org/|title=Historical and Biographical Resources}}</ref> Paul Heinrich was a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg from 1823 and its secretary from 1826.<ref name=":0" /> Nicolas's son, [Georg Albert](/source/Georg_Albert_Fuss) (1806–1854),<ref name=":0" /> was from 1839 an astronomer in [Pulkovo](/source/Pulkovo_Observatory) and then from 1848 in [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius_University_Astronomical_Observatory); he also published on magnetism.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Geogr., magnet. u. hypsometr. Bestimmungen auf e. Reise nach Sibirien u. China in d. J. 1830-32|journal=Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg|volume=Série VI, Tome III, 1838}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Catenary](/source/Catenary)
* [Fuss' theorem for bicentric quadrilaterals](/source/Bicentric_quadrilateral)
* [Fuss–Catalan number](/source/Fuss%E2%80%93Catalan_number)
* [Fuss Peak](/source/Fuss_Peak), a volcano in the Kuril Islands

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{HLS|42911|Fuss, Niklaus|author=Rudolf Mumenthaler}}, 2006
* {{NDB|5|742|743|Fuß, Nikolaus|Kurt-R. Biermann|116878894}}

==External links==
* [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fuss.html MacTutor History of Mathematics]
* {{MathGenealogy |id=122708 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuss, Nicolas}}

Category:1755 births
Category:1826 deaths
Category:18th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire
Category:18th-century Swiss mathematicians
Category:19th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire
Category:19th-century Swiss mathematicians
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Category:Swiss emigrants to the Russian Empire

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nicolas Fuss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Fuss) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Fuss?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.