Carl Friedrich Gauss

1777 – 1855 · died at about 78^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Carl Friedrich Gauss

• Carl Friedrich Gauss's preserved brain was mixed up with another man's soon after his death. In 2013 researchers found that most studies of "Gauss's brain" had examined a physician's brain.^[1]
• According to a popular story, a young Gauss stunned his teacher by quickly adding the numbers 1 to 100. He presumably saw that they form 50 pairs that each sum to 101, giving 5050.^[1]
• Gauss and Wilhelm Weber built the first electromechanical telegraph in 1833. They also found the circuit rules later published by Gustav Kirchhoff and named after him.^[1]
• Gauss chose mathematics over philology after he solved an ancient Greek problem in 1796: which regular polygons can be constructed with compass and straightedge.^[1]
• When the newly found Ceres vanished in the Sun's glare, Gauss calculated where it would reappear. Astronomers found it near his predicted position, within half a degree.^[1]
• Gauss loved counting things, like people's ages in days. He congratulated Alexander von Humboldt for reaching Isaac Newton's age at death, counted in days, and began learning Russian at 62.^[1][3][4]
• Carl Friedrich Gauss was alive at the same time as Voltaire — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1777–1778).^[1][2][5][6]
• Carl Friedrich Gauss and John Quincy Adams died on the same day of the year, February 23.^[1][2][7][8]

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. His mathematical contributions spanned the branches of number theory, algebra, analysis, geometry, statistics, and probability. Gauss was director of the Göttingen Observatory in Germany and professor of astronomy from 1807 until his death in 1855.^[1]

Contemporaries

Hokusai

72 yr overlap

John Quincy Adams

71 yr overlap

Jacob Grimm

70 yr overlap

Andrew Jackson

68 yr overlap

Arthur Schopenhauer

67 yr overlap

Michael Faraday

64 yr overlap

Charles Babbage

64 yr overlap

James Madison

59 yr overlap

Niccolò Paganini

58 yr overlap

Heinrich Heine

58 yr overlap

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

55 yr overlap

Mary Shelley

54 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Carl Friedrich Gauss

When was Carl Friedrich Gauss born?

Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on April 30, 1777, and died on February 23, 1855.

How old was Carl Friedrich Gauss at death?

Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on April 30, 1777, and died on February 23, 1855, at age 77.

What was Carl Friedrich Gauss known for?

Carl Friedrich Gauss was known for: Mathematician called the Prince of Mathematicians. Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. His mathematical contributions spanned the branches of number theory, algebra, analysis, geometry, statistics, and probability. Gauss was director of the Göttingen Observatory in Germany and professor of astronomy from 1807 until his death in 1855.

Who was alive at the same time as Carl Friedrich Gauss?

Carl Friedrich Gauss's closest contemporary was Hokusai. Their lives overlapped for 72 years.