麻豆APP

Friedrich Gauss. by Jensen.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Carl F. Gauss

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, mechanics, electrostatics, astronomy, and matrix theory, and optics.

Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum (Latin, “the foremost of mathematicians”) and “greatest mathematician since antiquity”, Gauss had an exceptional influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history’s most influential mathematicians.

Here are the top ten fascinating facts about Carl F. Gauss.

1. Gauss was the first mathematician to construct a 17-sided heptadecagon using a compass and a straight edge, and more importantly, was the first to prove the laws of quadratic reciprocity.

Statue of Gauss in Braunschweig. by Unknown.

2. His Mathematical Skills Attracted the Attention of the Duke of Brunswick, Who Helped Him Attend the Collegium Carolinum & the University of G枚ttingen, Where He Made His First Discoveries

When Gauss was young, his mathematical skills and ability as a student attracted the attention of Charles William Ferdinand, the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb眉ttel, who funded his education, according to the University of St. Andrews.

He began studying at the Brunswick Collegium Carolinum in 1792, where he discovered, the 鈥淏ode鈥檚 law, the binomial theorem and the arithmetic-geometric mean, as well as the law of quadratic reciprocity and the prime number theorem,鈥� according to his biography on the St. Andrew鈥檚 website.

Gauss then moved on to Gottingen University in 1795. He completed his degree in 1799. According to Britannica, his first two major publications came in the early 1800s

3. Gauss is occasionally referred to as the “princeps mathematicorum,” or “the prince of mathematicians.” Others have referred to him as “the foremost of mathematicians” or “the greatest mathematician since antiquity.”

4. Gauss Was Born to Poor, Working-Class Parents & Was a Child Prodigy Who Figured Out His Date of Birth Because His Mother Never Recorded It

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was born in 1777 to poor, working-class parents in Brunswick in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenb眉ttel, in what is now part of Lower Saxony, Germany.

Gauss鈥� mother was illiterate and did not record his actual date of birth, but he later solved the puzzle of when he was born himself and determined it was April 30, Bruce Director wrote in The American Almanac in an article titled, 鈥淢ind Over Mathematics: How Gauss Determined The Date of His Birth.鈥�

Gauss was a child prodigy, according to Britannica. 鈥�. The encyclopedia explains, 鈥渉e was rare among mathematicians in that he was a calculating prodigy, and he retained the ability to do elaborate calculations in his head most of his life.鈥� He also had a gift for languages.

5. Gauss’s work was instrumental to the understanding of algebra, as he proved its central theorem which states that “every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one complex root.”

6. Gauss Was a Perfectionist & Did Not Publish Many of His Discoveries Because He Did Not Think They Were Complete & Above Criticism

Gauss was known to be a perfectionist and a hard worker, according to Musings on Math.

鈥淚f there is to be one major criticism of Gauss, it is with his reluctance to publish his discoveries. Gauss, ever the perfectionist, did not like to publish many of the results of his research, fearing that they were never perfect enough.

Or, as Gauss would describe it later in life, 鈥減auca sed matura鈥� (few, but ripe),鈥� Musings on Maths writes. 鈥淢ost of what Gauss discovered was not known until after his death when colleagues went through his mathematical diary.

Looking at this as a major travesty to mathematics, it is the opinion of the famous mathematician, historian and mathematical romantic E.T. Bell that Gauss鈥� reluctance to publish his discoveries set mathematics back at least 50 years.鈥�

7. One of Gauss’s most important contributions to astronomy stemmed from using conic equations to track the dwarf planet Ceres, whose own discoverer Giuseppe Piazzi could not locate it months after its discovery due to the limitations of available tools.

Carl Friedrich Gauss. by
Philipp Petri.

8. He Was Married Twice & Had 5 Children, He Did Want to Follow in His Footsteps Into Mathematics Because He Did Not Want to Risk Having His Name Weakened

Gauss was married twice. He married Johanna Osthoff on October 9, 1805, and had a son and daughter with her. His first wife died in 1809 and their son, Louis, died a year later. Gauss remarried, Minna Waldeck, in 1810, and they had three children together. They were married until she died in 1831.

Gauss 鈥渨as shattered鈥� by his first wife鈥檚 death and that overshadowed his personal life, according to a biography written by the University of St. Andrews. His second wife was his first wife鈥檚 best friend, and the biography explains that the marriage seemed to be one of 鈥渃onvenience鈥� for Gauss. While his personal life suffered, his 鈥渨ork never seemed to suffer from his tragedy.鈥�

According to the Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 鈥淚n marked contrast to this external simplicity, Gauss鈥檚 personal life was complicated and tragic.

9. His work on using conic sections originating from the position of the sun replaced the difficult mathematical formulas that had been used in astronomy until then.

10. Gauss Died of a Heart Attack in 1855 & His Brain Was Preserved to Be Studied.

Carl Friedrich Gau脽, Albani Friedhof G枚ttingen. by Julian Herzog.

Gauss died of a heart attack on February 23, 1855, in Gottingen in the Kingdom of Hanover. He was 77. According to his obituary, Gauss died after a 鈥減rotracted and painful illness, which for more than a year had exhausted his physical energies.鈥� His death notice added his illness, 鈥渃ould not impair the vigour and clearness of his wondrous intellect.鈥� The obituary noted he was called 鈥渢he father of sciences.鈥�

He was eulogized by hi son-in-law Heinrich Ewald and his close friend and biographer Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen. Gauss is buried in Albanifriedhof, a graveyard in Gottigen.

Gauss鈥� brain was preserved after his death to be studied, but at some point, it was accidentally switched with another German scientist, physician Conrad Heinrich Fuchs, who also died in Gottingen in 1855, according to the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. His brain was recently studied again in 2013.