Sudoku grids have a long, international and not always certain history, but one thing is definite: they are not Japanese.
According to Swiss Radio International, the puzzles were in fact invented in 1783 by the Swiss math genius, Leonhard Euler, who dominated 18th-century mathematics and whose collected works fill 75 volumes.
Euler was born in Basel in 1707, studied at the city's university and left aged 19 to take up his first professorship in St Petersburg.
The mathematician died in 1783, the year he devised his carrés magiques - magic squares. Some claim that these 81-square grids were the proto-sudoku puzzles.
Although Euler never returned to Switzerland after leaving for Russia, the Swiss still proudly claim him as one of their own - he used to be the face of the SFr10 note - and a series of celebrations are being planned for the tercentenary of his birth in 2007.
Euler's contribution to the invention of Sudoku is hotly disputed in some circles. To find out more about Leonhard Euler and his work, consult the following links.
According to Swiss Radio International, the puzzles were in fact invented in 1783 by the Swiss math genius, Leonhard Euler, who dominated 18th-century mathematics and whose collected works fill 75 volumes.
Euler was born in Basel in 1707, studied at the city's university and left aged 19 to take up his first professorship in St Petersburg.
The mathematician died in 1783, the year he devised his carrés magiques - magic squares. Some claim that these 81-square grids were the proto-sudoku puzzles.
Although Euler never returned to Switzerland after leaving for Russia, the Swiss still proudly claim him as one of their own - he used to be the face of the SFr10 note - and a series of celebrations are being planned for the tercentenary of his birth in 2007.
Euler's contribution to the invention of Sudoku is hotly disputed in some circles. To find out more about Leonhard Euler and his work, consult the following links.
