Carl Gauss, a German mathematician, was one of the most important scientists of the 18th century, who made scientific contributions in many fields, including engineering, static electricity, geophysics, astronomy, optics, statistics, and algebra. Must have extensive knowledge of mathematics.
Carl has been described as “the greatest mathematician of antiquity” and was a perfectionist, many of whose works were unpublished but were discovered in his personal papers and diaries after his death in 1855.
Birth and Nurture
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on April 30, 1777 in Brunswick, Germany. He was the only child of poor parents, his mother was called Dorothea Pence, and his father was Gebhard Dietrich Gauss.
Gauss’s mother did not record the date of her son’s birth, and she was illiterate, but she noted that he was born on Wednesday, 8 days before the Mirage celebration, and this celebration was 40 days after Easter, and later Gauss made a calculation to know his exact birth date.
Gass showed excellence and intelligence in mathematics from an early age and could perform detailed calculations in his mind, so his teacher Budner took care of that.
His father was a simple laborer who was busy with many jobs, but his mother devoted her life to him, so she took care of his early education and gave him to the Duke of Brunswick to receive a scholarship. He completed his education.
Carl Gauss was married twice and had 6 children from his two wives, his first marriage was to Elisabeth Johanna Rosina Ostoff, October 9, 1805, but she died 5 months after giving birth to their third son, Louis, and it is said. After his death Cass suffered a nervous breakdown and was deeply affected.
In 1806, he had a son, Joseph, in 1808, a daughter, Villemontene, and in 1809, Louise, from Johanna.
In 1810, he married Johanna’s close friend, Frederica Willemyn Feldke, also known as Mina, and had 3 children with her. She died on September 12, 1831, and he suffered from depression after her death.
His children from Mina: Eugene, born 1811, Wilhelm, born 1813, and Therese, born 1816.
Among his children was a talented daughter Willeminen, but she died young in 1840.
Gauss’s relationship with his children was not strong, he disagreed with them, and they did not follow his approach to mathematics, his youngest daughter, Therese, took care of him and his household until his death. She did not marry until after his death.
Research and development
Carl Gauss attended St. Catherine’s Primary School at the age of seven, and it was during that period that his intelligence and brilliance in mathematics emerged, and he showed a unique ability to solve mathematical problems, and one day surprised his teacher and assistant. Able to collect integers from 1 to 100 in record time.
Gauss’s teacher was talented, he worked as a private tutor for him, and he applied for an advanced arithmetic course for him, so Gauss solved all his problems. In 1788, at the age of 11, Cass entered the Martino Katrini grammar school, where he excelled in mathematics and modern languages, as well as studying ancient Latin and Greek.
In 1792, Gauss enrolled at the Collège Carolinum (Technical University of Brunswick), sponsored by the Duke of Brunswick, who admired his mental abilities, where he completed his studies in mathematics.
Gauss completed his university studies with the patronage of the Duke of Brunswick, and his mother and teachers introduced him to him in 1891. At that point, his first important discoveries appeared, as he was able to construct a regular polygon with 17 sides. Just a ruler and compass.
In October 1795, Carl Gauss began his studies at the University of Göttingen, and received his doctorate in 1798. His doctoral thesis provided a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra, and he later provided 3 important proofs of that result, known as “Gauss’s proof” for short.
Gauss’s personality was very keen on the quality of his work, he was devoted to his research, and he hated teaching, but despite this, many of his students became well-known mathematicians.
His most important students included Richard Detkind, Bernhard Riemann and Friedrich Bessel, and his student Sophie Germain received her honorary degree under Cass’s tutelage after his death.
As for politics, Gauss was a supporter of the monarchy and rejected Napoleon and saw it as an extension of the Revolution.
Gauss’s Scientific Contributions
In 1801, Carl Gauss published the first systematic book on algebraic number theory, and this book gave a detailed description of the solutions of “quadratic polynomials” in two variables of the integers, and this book was an impetus for the recognition of Gauss’ exceptional talent.
His great interest in mathematics led him to research, especially in German universities, where he was close to the Duke, which gave him great support and admiration in the scientific community.
One of his most important astronomical achievements was the discovery of the asteroid Ceres, the first discovery of which was made by the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazza in 1800, but the asteroid disappeared before enough observations were made to calculate its orbit.
In 1807 he was appointed director of the Göttingen Laboratory, after which he developed the method of “least squares”, obtaining solutions for binomial equations, and the Bell-curve method (fuzzy error curve).
In 1830 he became interested in terrestrial magnetism, and participated in the first global survey of the Earth’s magnetic field.
In 1831, Gauss discovered new knowledge of magnetism with physics professor Wilhelm Weber, and the two developed the first electromagnetic telegraph in 1833.
Gauss and Weber founded the “Magnetic Club” in which the work of measuring the Earth’s magnetic field was carried out in various parts of the world.
After his colleague Weber was dismissed in 1837, Gauss’s research was dismissed despite his interactions with other scientists. He often pointed out and criticized flaws in their work or claimed to have discovered them beforehand.
His name (gauss) was given to the electromagnetic unit used to measure magnetic induction, and he developed a method for measuring the horizontal strength of a magnetic field, and that method was used until the middle of the 20th century.
He wrote about graphology and projection theory of graphs, and he has unpublished insights discovered by his friends about complex tasks and the nature of coordination.
Gauss hid some of his discoveries from his contemporaries, including oval functions, and he did not publish the calculation of the differential equation that explained the series, and he explained that the series was called “the series above geometry”.
In addition, Kaz was fluent in several languages and learned Russian at the age of 62. He had a hobby of collecting books and was interested in projects that he felt were important to the community.
Awards and Honours
- Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London.
- Prize of the Danish Academy of Sciences in 1823.
- The medal was created in 1856 to honor King George V of Hanover after his death.
- His portrait was featured on the German 10-mark banknote.
- In 2005 it celebrated the Year of Cass in collaboration with the University of Göttingen and the Cass Society, and included exhibitions and a series of lectures.
His death
Carl Friedrich Gauss died of a heart attack in Göttingen, Kingdom of Hanover (now part of Lower Saxony, Germany) on February 23, 1855, aged 78, and was buried in the Albanifredhof Cemetery.
After his death, he discovered many of his ideas in his personal papers and notes, and Gauss did not publish all of his achievements, but reserved some of them for publication, and he was keen that his works and inventions should be fully and comprehensively published.
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