He was rare among mathematicians in that he was a calculating prodigyand he retained the ability to do elaborate calculations in his head most of his life. Its significance lies not in the result but in the proof, which rested on a profound analysis of the factorization of polynomial equations and opened the door to later ideas of Galois theory. His doctoral thesis of gave a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra: Gauss later gave three more proofs of this major result, the last on the 50th anniversary of the first, which shows the importance he attached to the topic.
Gauss later solved this puzzle about his birthdate in the context of finding the date of Easterderiving methods to compute the date in both past and future years.
In his memorial on Gauss, Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen says that when Gauss was barely three years old he corrected a math error his father made; and that when he was seven, he confidently solved an arithmetic series problem faster than anyone else in his class of students.
He completed his magnum opusDisquisitiones Arithmeticaeinat the age of 21—though it was not published until Gauss was so pleased with this result that he requested that a regular heptadecagon be inscribed on his tombstone. The stonemason declined, stating that the difficult construction would essentially look like a circle.
He discovered a construction of the heptadecagon on 30 March. On 8 April he became the first to prove the quadratic reciprocity law. This remarkably general law allows mathematicians to determine the solvability of any quadratic equation in modular arithmetic.
The prime number theoremconjectured on 31 May, gives a good understanding of how the prime numbers are distributed among the integers.
Gauss also discovered that every positive integer is representable as a sum of at most three triangular numbers on 10 July and then jotted down in his diary the note: On 1 October he published a result on the number of solutions of polynomials with coefficients in finite fieldswhich years later led to the Weil conjectures.
Two people gave eulogies at his funeral: Gauss's son-in-law Heinrich Ewaldand Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausenwho was Gauss's close friend and biographer. Highly developed convolutions were also found, which in the early 20th century were suggested as the explanation of his genius. Waldo Dunningtondescribed Gauss's religious views as follows: For him science was the means of exposing the immortal nucleus of the human soul.
In the days of his full strength, it furnished him recreation and, by the prospects which it opened up to him, gave consolation. Toward the end of his life, it brought him confidence. Gauss's God was not a cold and distant figment of metaphysics, nor a distorted caricature of embittered theology.
To man is not vouchsafed that fullness of knowledge which would warrant his arrogantly holding that his blurred vision is the full light and that there can be none other which might report the truth as does his.
For Gauss, not he who mumbles his creed, but he who lives it, is accepted. He believed that a life worthily spent here on earth is the best, the only, preparation for heaven. Religion is not a question of literature, but of life. God's revelation is continuous, not contained in tablets of stone or sacred parchment.
A book is inspired when it inspires. The unshakeable idea of personal continuance after death, the firm belief in a last regulator of things, in an eternal, just, omniscient, omnipotent God, formed the basis of his religious life, which harmonized completely with his scientific research.
In this work, Whewell had discarded the possibility of existing life in other planets, on the basis of theological arguments, but this was a position with which both Wagner and Gauss disagreed.
Later Wagner explained that he did not fully believe in the Bible, though he confessed that he "envied" those who were able to easily believe.In June , Zach, an astronomer whom Gauss had come to know two or three years previously, published the orbital positions of Ceres, a new "small planet" which was discovered by G Piazzi, an Italian astronomer on 1 January, German mathematician, astronomer and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss ( - ) portrayed here circa Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
His second publication, in , contributed to the field. Carl Friedrich Gauss Biography Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) (April 30, - February 23, ) was a legendary German mathematician, astronomer and physicist with a very wide range of contributions; he is considered to be one of the leading mathematicians of all time.
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss 30 April Brunswick, Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel: Died: 23 was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and sciences.
Carl Friedrich Gauss: A regardbouddhiste.com for: See full list. Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and astronomer who is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. Often referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum ("the Prince of Mathematicians") and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", he made significant contributions to several fields including number .
Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who published over works and contributed the fundamental theorem of algebra. Carl Friedrich Gauss was born April 30 Born: Apr 30,