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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Karl Gauss Biography GAUSS, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855). A German mathematician, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of modern times. He was born at Brunswick, the son of a day laborer. After three years (1792-95) in the Carolineum at Brunswick, he went to the University of Göttingen, where he remained from 1795 to 1798, devoting all of his attention to mathematics. When at Göttingen, he was already in possession of the idea of least squares (see LEAST SQUARES, METHOD of), and in March, 1796, he discovered the proposition that a circle can be divided into 17 equal arcs by means of elementary geometry, the first extension of the ancient Greek knowledge in this particular. During his university career at Göttingen he also worked upon his Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, (1801; 2d ed., 1889), a treatise which soon brought him into prominence before the scientific world. The German astronomers being unable to locate the planet Ceres, discovered by Piazzi at Palermo, Jan. 1, 1801, Gauss invented a new method for calculating the position of heavenly bodies, and thus enabled Zach (Dec. 3, 1801) and Olbers (Dec. 4, 1801) to rediscover the planet. His Theoria Motus Corporum Coelestium (1809) , vol. vii of his Werke (1871; German by Haase, Hanover, 1865), completely established his reputation, so that Laplace recognized him as the first mathematician in Europe. The latter part of his life was devoted largely to two branches of applied mathematics, geodesy and electricity; he measured the meridian from Altona to Göttingen (1821-24), and he may be considered as the founder of the mathematical theory of electricity. With Weber he established telegraphic connection between the magnetic and the astronomical observatories at Göttingen (1833) and published the Resultate aus den Beobachtungen des magnetischen Vereins (6 vols., 1838-43) and the Atlas des Erdmagnetismus (1840). He also wrote on the theory of surfaces, least squares, and other subjects of mathematics, physics, and astronomy. His collected works were published by the Göttingen Academy (vols. i-vi, Göttingen, 1862-74; vol. vii, Gotha, 1871; 2d ed., 8 vols., Göttingen, 1870-1900). For his life, consult Schering (ib., 1887). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. IX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 518. |