Gauss

Gauss is still considered one of the most important German scholars and mathematicians. With his main work "Disquisitiones arithmeticae" he laid the foundation for modern number theory.
He is particularly interesting for us because he developed methods for measuring magnetism. You can find out the most important things about this below.

The Gauss biography briefly

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was born in Braunschweig in 1777.
Already in his early school days he turned out to be a mathematical genius. As a primary school student, he developed a formula with fifty pairs of numbers, which was later often called "little Gauss".
This made it possible for him to add all the numbers from one to a hundred in a very short time.

In the course of his academic training at the University of Göttingen, he acquired comprehensive knowledge of mathematics and attended lectures in the departments:

  • Algebra
  • Analysis
  • Statistics
  • Number theory

In addition, Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was interested in many other scientific areas - including astronomy and physics.
In 1799, Gauss finally received his doctorate in mathematics. He wrote his dissertation on complex numbers at the University of Helmstedt. His contemporaries treated him as a real exceptional talent. At the age of only thirty, he was highly respected as a natural scientist and was offered the chair of astronomy at the University of Göttingen.

Carl Friedrich Gauss died in Göttingen in 1855 at the age of 77. After his death, the King of Hanover called him the "Prince of Mathematicians". Numerous physical and mathematical solutions were named after Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, as were numerous calculation methods, with which most students sooner or later come into contact.

What inventions and other discoveries did Carl-Friedrich Gauss make?

Carl Friedrich Gauss published his first important work – the "Disquisitiones arithmeticae" – at the age of 24. In it he deals with different areas:

  • the decomposition of numbers into prime factors
  • the divisibility with congruences
  • the quadratic law of reciprocity already conjectured by Euler

With this he laid the foundation for modern number theory.

In statistics, for example, the mathematician is known for his Gaussian bell curve. It designates the normal distribution, which arises when recording multiple measured values due to measurement tolerances. Similarly, the Gaussian distribution is an important type of continuous probability distribution.
Gauss also contributed to the development of the magnetometer and invented the first electromagnetic telegraph.

One of Carl Friedrich Gauss' most important major works is the "Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientium" in the field of astronomy. In it he deals with scientific methods to precisely calculate the elliptical orbits of the planets.
During this he developed the so-called approximation method. With its help, reliable mean values can be calculated from various measurements.
We also have to thank Gauss for founding geodesy as a mathematical discipline.

Gauss and magnetism: What can be measured with the Gauss unit?

In 1807 Gauss decided to take over the management of the observatory in Göttingen, which was planned at that time.
He used this as a place to live and work until his death.
Meanwhile, he worked closely with the physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber. Together, the two developed methods for measuring magnetism. He succeeded in defining the Gaussian system of measurement, which is based on the following physical units:

  • Time
  • Length
  • Mass

For this reason, the Gauss unit for magnetic flux density was later named after the mathematician.


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