250 Fund

Euler partners have a real impact on the Institute, and we name one of our postdoc positions after them, e.g., the BCG Henderson Postdoc in physics. They are invited to our “Business: Is It Rocket Science?” dinners, which bring together business leaders and scientists to discuss the science of business and the business of science.

Leonhard Euler made seminal contributions to number theory, graph theory, mechanics and topology. He discovered the equation V - E + F = 2, which relates the number of vertices, edges and faces of a planar graph, and the equations governing fluid flow. He discovered the base of the natural logarithm e and the formula e^i𝜋 + 1 = 0, widely regarded as the most beautiful in mathematics. His rate of output was prodigious and he was, unusually, as proficient doing mental calculations as written ones.

We recognize our Gauss partners by naming after them one of our blackboards – the genesis of all our discoveries – with the donor’s name engraved below the board. Gauss partners are invited to our Science and Society lectures, which bring together leaders in business, government and the arts to understand how science shapes the world.

Known as the princeps mathematicorum, Carl Gauss made fundamental contributions to algebra, number theory, analysis and statistics. He proved the fundamental theorem of algebra and discovered the Gaussian distribution, which describes the sum of any random variable. His proof of quadratic reciprocity culminated in the Langlands program, a kind of grand unified theory for mathematics. At heart a perfectionist and a hard worker, like Feyman he endeavored to make his arduous discoveries seem effortless.

We recognize our Poincare partners, like our Gauss and Euler partners, by engraving their names in our entrance hall wall. Poincare partners are also invited to attend our London Institute seminars, which bring together researchers and industry practitioners for drinks and discussion on a particular subject into the evening.

Described as “the last universalist” because of his command of all known science at the time, Henri Poincare made lasting contributions to mechanics, chaos theory, topology and relativity. His work on the fundamental group helped link algebra and topology. He first proposed the existence of gravitational waves, sensationally observed 110 years later. Poincare believed the subconscious was key to solving problems, and relied on intuition to formulate ideas, only later committing them to mathematics.