Engineering Hall of Fame:

Celebrating the 225th Birthday of Math Whiz Carl Friedrich Gauss

by Frederik Nebeker

By many accounts, Carl Friedrich Gauss was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. His work is far-reaching; it has benefited engineering, electrical sciences and electrical technology enormously.

Born on 30 April 1777, in Brunswick (Braunschweig), Gauss studied mathematics at the University of Göttingen, where he later became a professor. Over the course of his career, he would make many contributions, including the proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra; the presentation of a complete theory of complex numbers, showing them as points in what is now called the Gaussian plane; and the development of potential theory, which is used to study gravitational and electromagnetic fields.

He was also involved with astronomy and geodesy, developing mathematical techniques for dealing with experimental or observational measurements, notably the method of least squares and a mathematical treatment of what is now called the normal or Gaussian distribution. Many of his developments were published, but some were rediscovered only much later by others. These "long lost" results have assumed great importance as well: non-Euclidean geometry, which is crucial for the general theory of relativity; and the fast Fourier transform, which helped give rise to digital signal processing in the 1960s and 1970s.

Gauss also contributed to the understanding of electricity and magnetism. He showed, for example, that electric flux through a closed surface is proportional to the enclosed charge. We know this today as Gauss' theorem. And with the physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber, he studied terrestrial magnetism and electromagnetism. Among their developments was a sensitive magnetometer that introduced the bifilar suspension of a magnetic needle used as an indicator — which was later adopted in galvanometers. They also devised a system of so-called absolute units, which expressed force and other quantities using only the fundamental units of length, mass, and time.

In his honor, the unit of magnetic induction has been designated the "gauss," and treating ships or other objects so that they have no detectable external magnetic field is called "degaussing."

In 1832, wanting to synchronize magnetic measurements carried out in two buildings a kilometer or two apart, Gauss and Weber built a two-wire circuit between the buildings and sent a time signal using a battery and a galvanometer. The next year they began sending words and sentences by this means. They tried to interest the Army in the new signaling system, to no avail. Of course, in 1837, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented their telegraph system, while in the United States, Samuel Morse demonstrated his.

Unfortunately, the dynamic Gauss-Weber collaboration came to an end when Weber refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the new king of Hannover in 1837. He lost his position at the university, leaving his long-time colleague without an experiment partner. As a result, Gauss turned away from his experimental and practical work, focusing instead on his mathematical studies duties until his death in Göttingen on 23 February 1855.

Frederik Nebeker is Senior Research Historian at the IEEE History Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Visit the IEEE History Center's Web page at: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/.