Amazing Mathematicians by Anna Trewin

Author:Anna Trewin [Trewin, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007557004
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

A heliotrope

In 1838, I received the Royal Society’s Copley Medal – a prize given for important achievements in science. In 1840, I published my famous Dioptrische Untersuchungen which led to a difficult mathematical calculation called the ‘Gaussian lens formula’. I never published my theories quickly – I always wanted to prove them first. Most people used intelligent guesses based on their experience. But I believed it was possible, with the correct information, to decide probability.

In 1849, I gave my famous ‘Golden Jubilee’ lecture to an audience of scientists and mathematicians. As a result, I received many kind messages from academics all over Europe. In my life I’d greatly developed the subjects of mathematics, astronomy and physics and my methods became very important for surveying and measuring. In the years that followed my lecture, my health began to suffer. In 1855, I died in my sleep in Göttingen. I was 77 years old.

The Life of Carl Friedrich Gauss

1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss was born in Brunswick, Lower Saxony, Germany.

1780–1791 His genius for numbers was noticed by his teachers and Charles Ferdinand, the Duke of Brunswick.

1792 The Duke of Brunswick paid for Carl to go to the Collegium Carolinum.

1795 He went on to study at the University of Göttingen where he did important work on geometry and the theory of ‘quadratic reciprocity law’. He also became interested in prime numbers.

1799 He left university without a degree. In the same year he started writing Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. The book was a discussion of algebra.

1801 He published Disquisitiones Arithmeticae and found the position of the planet Ceres.

1804–1805 He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Carl married his first wife, Johanna Osthoff, and they later had three children.

1807 Carl was given the job of Professor at Göttingen University and Director of the Göttingen Observatory.

1809 His wife, Johanna, died giving birth to their second son. Their son died soon after.

1810 Carl married Johanna’s best friend, Minna Waldeck, and they had three children. He published the Theoria Motus Corporum Coelestium in Sectionibus Conicis Solem Ambientium.

1818–1832 Carl began measuring the land of Hanover. The work led to Carl’s invention of the heliotrope.

1820 Carl became a Fellow of the Royal Society, Edinburgh.

1831 His second wife died.

1833 He worked with Wilhelm Weber. They invented the telegraph device, which could send messages over a distance of 15,000 metres.

1838 He received the Royal Society of London’s Copley Medal.

1839 His mother died after a long illness.

1840 He published Dioptrische Untersuchungen which led to a calculation called the ‘Gaussian lens formula’.

1849 He gave his Golden Jubilee lecture to an audience of mathematicians. As a result, he received kind messages from academics all over Europe.

1855 Carl Gauss died, aged 77, in Göttingen.

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