Gauss



The doctoral dissertation (1799) of Gauss
contained a proof of the ”fundamental theorem
of algebra” which states that every complex
non-constant polynomial in one variable has at
least one complex root. In 1807 Gauss became
a professor at Gottingen University. When
planetoid Ceres was discovered on January 1st,
1801, Gauss was able to compute its orbit from
only a few observations. On December 31st of
the same year, Ceres showed up again, exactly
where Gauss had predicted. Gauss had used
”least-squares” prediction which is based on the
assumption that the observation errors were
normally distributed. Gauss invented modular
arithmetic in 1801, and in 1831 introduced the
term ”complex number”. Together with
Wilhelm Weber, Gauss constructed the
electromagnetic telegraph in 1834.

Written on February 3, 2011