Karl Friedrich Gauss

Posted by Tel Asiado Apr 30, 2008

Great Thinkers Datebook: April 30

Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), German mathematician, is born today, April 30. The unit of magnetic flux density is named in his honor.

As a child prodigy coming from a poor family, the education of Gauss was supported by the duke of Brunswick. He made his remarkable breakthrough in mathematical discoveries while he was still a teenager.

In 1807 he became director of Gottingen Observatory, where he remained through his life.

Gauss contributed to the study of electricity and magnetism and made significant advances in such branches of mathematics as the number theory and the theory of series, among others. He completed his magnum opus Disquisitiones Arithmeticae in 1798 and he was only 21 years old. This work is significant being a basis in consolidating number theory as a discipline.

Karl Friedrich Gauss, considered as one of history's most influential mathematicians, had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science.