Fuss, Nikolai Ivanovich

(also Nicolaus Fuss). Born Jan. 29, 1755, in Basel; died Dec. 23, 1825, in St. Petersburg. Russian mathematician.

In 1773, Fuss moved to Russia at the invitation of L. Euler. He became an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1776 and an academician in 1783. He was appointed permanent secretary of the academy in 1800.

Most of Fuss’ research was closely associated with Euler’s work. Fuss contributed to various fields of mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and geodesy. His several textbooks, including Fundamentals of Pure Mathematics (parts 1–3, 1810–12), played an important role in the development of mathematical education in Russia. Fuss did not understand the progressive character of N. I. Lobachevskii’s textbook Geometry (1823, published 1909) and gave the manuscript of the work an extremely negative appraisal.