Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) was born i nto a family of poor farmers and labourers in Brunswick Germany. He was 12 years old when the French Revolution broke out, 29 when the seemingly eternal 1000-year old Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, 38 when Napoleon was defeated, and over 70 when Germany had its own liberal revolution. During his childhood, compulsory schooling was not strictly enforced but most of Gauss's generation could read, write, and do elementary arithmetic. Gauss is reported to have been able to do this before he went to school, skills he apparently picked up without any help from his parents. An early teacher (Buttner) recognised the genius in young Gauss and encouraged him with special texts and assistance in getting into secondary school in 1788.

Gauss was already mak ing startling discoveries by his seventeenth year. In 1795, for instance he discovered independently of Euler the law of quadratic reciprocity in number theory. Gauss also made the first rigorous proof of the so-called fundamental theorem of algebra and t he remarkable extension of the Greek type of geometry that the sides of the regular polygon of 17 sides (more general, of n sides, n = 2^p + 1, p = 2^k, n prime, k = 0, 1, ,2 ,3, . . . ) can be constructed with ruler and compass alone.

Gauss' interest in astronomy was aroused on the first day of the new century, on Jan. 1, 1801 when Piazzi in Palermo discovered the first planetoid, which was given the name Ceres. Since only a few observations of the new planetoid could be made, th e problem arose to compute the orbit of the planetoid from a small number of observations. Gauss solved the problem completely; it leads to an equation of degree eight.

Gauss produced influential mathematical papers on number theory, complex numbers, geodesy, and potential theory. He was also very interested in applied work and made significant contributions to the electric telegraph, terrestrial magnetism, and physics in general. From 1807 to 1855, Gauss worked quietly and undisturbed as the director of the astronomical observatory and professor of his university at Helmstadt.

Gauss, is credited with the discovery of the normal distribution but this may not be correct. Read on!

References:

Strui k, D. K. (1965). A concise history of mathematics.

Buhler, W. K. (1981). Gauss: A biographical study.

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