GAUSS AND HIS AMERICAN DESCENDANTS 107 



notice a regular polygon. This geometric figure recalls Gauss's first 

 mathematical research, the discovery of a method of inscribing a regular 

 17-sided polygon into a circle by means of a ruler and a pair of com- 

 passes. On the Gauss bridge in Braunschweig a bronze celestial globe 

 exhibiting the planet Ceres reminds passers-by of another great achieve- 

 ment of Gauss. Among astronomers his name first became known 

 through his determination of the elements of the orbit of this planet 

 Ceres from the observations on it made in 1801 by Piazzi in Italy. 

 These observations were such that its orbit could not well be calculated 

 by the old methods, and it remained for the genius of Gauss to devise 

 a method of computing elliptic orbits which was free from the assump- 

 tion of a small eccentricity and inclination. With the aid of Gauss's 

 data the new planet was rediscovered by Olbers in Germany. Later 

 Gauss gave much attention to modes of computing planetary and 

 cometary orbits. 



At the observatory in Gottingen, where Gauss carried on his great 

 researches, there has been arranged in the rooms formerly occupied by 



The Gauss Tower on the Hohehagex, near Gottingen, dedicated July 29, 1911. 



