Gauss, Carl Friedrich

1995/08/02 Azkune Mendia, Iñaki - Elhuyar Fundazioa | Kaltzada, Pili - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Biografiak

(1777-1855)

This prestigious mathematician was born in Brunswick in 1777. For many it is one of the greatest scientists in the history of mathematics. He was still a bulky child when they stressed that his teachers had mathematical inspiration. The Count of Brunswick took over his training and in 1795 he joined the University of Gottingen. In general, almost everything published mathematically between 1797 and 1827 is due to him.

At the age of twenty, he discovered the least squares method. It was a time when the theory was pure, but in which Ceres was based to determine the trajectory of planetesimal. He fully succeeded and his contribution to the location of these small celestial bodies, which called Planetesimal 101 Gaussia.

He was a student when, using the rule and compass, he built the polygon of zone 17. Moreover, Gauss denied the belief that with these two instruments any polygon can be helped. The mastery of mathematics created by the Greeks was about to fall. It is therefore due to Gauss, who referred for the first time to the impotence of mathematics.

In 1797 he received his doctorate from the University of Helmstedt. In his theses he demonstrated the basic theorem of algebra enunciated by Girard in 1629.

In 1805 he published in the book Disquisitiones arithmeticae the main milestones made until then. He studied, among other things, the convergence of series, congruences and quadratic forms.

In 1806 Count Brunswick died. Gauss ran out of support for further research, but soon gained support from many scientists. In 1807 he was appointed director of the Gottingen Observatory.

Gauss continued to investigate and surprise scientists. In the branch of numerical theory created by Fermat he carried out fruitful works. Since 1816 he has made works of geometry. Gauss considered that the 5th postulate of Euclid was wrong and the studies of this time have resulted in the placement of the first bases of a geometry that does not conform to the theories of Euclid. However, it was not reported by Gauss, so it is often said to be a discovery of mathematicians Lobachevski and Bolyai.

Since 1829 he devoted himself to magnetic phenomena and spent the last 20 years of his life researching the magnetic forces of the Earth, a task in which he had the help of Weber. The mathematical explanation of the observed phenomena was presented in the book General Theory of Terrestrial Magnetism, published in 1839.

For the richness of his contribution, Gauss was the reference of all mathematicians. Therefore, the scientists of his time baptized Pinceps mathematicorum.

He died in 1855 in the city of Götting. In their hometown, Brunswick, in honor of the brilliant mathematician, placed a 17-angle star.