244 GREAT MEN OF SCIENCE 



is known. Gauss' method for the absolute measurement of 

 the horizontal component of the earth's magnetism, which 

 cannot here be discussed in greater detail, goes far beyond its 

 original purpose in importance, on account of the perfection 

 with which it is developed, and has become of fundamental 

 importance for all magnetic field measurements and hence 

 also for the realisation of all common electrical units as used 

 to-day. 



The most admirable part of Gauss' structure is the perfect 

 manner in which the conceptual difficulties which surround 

 the 'magnetic pole' - the point of departure - are overcome, 

 since first Gilbert and later Ampere, had made clear 

 that such a pole is neither the seat of a peculiar magnetic 

 fluid, nor in any way sharply defined in space. The diffi- 

 culty is overcome by the introduction of the 'magnetic 

 moment' of the bar magnets used in carrying out the 

 measurement, taking into consideration Ampere's results, 

 already known at the time. Since Ampere's theory of mag- 

 netism is still current to-day, Gauss' plan is still perfectly 

 satisfactory. 



Gauss was born of poor parents in a small and poor house 

 in Brunswick. His was a family of farmers; his grandfather 

 had come into the town, where he earned his living as a gar- 

 dener. His father had many occupations, but finally also 

 worked mostly as a gardener; he married Gauss' mother, 

 who was the daughter of a stonemason, in a second mar- 

 riage. The family was very well brought up. Young 

 Gauss already showed signs at an early age of unusual gifts, 

 even when at home and then at school; he learned reading by 

 himself, only by asking how the letters were pronounced, and 

 even before that his power of mental arithmetic, for which 

 he had no preparation of any kind, astonished everyone. 

 He also quickly mastered both ancient and modern languages. 

 All this aroused the attention of a wider circle, even while he 

 was at school, so that the fourteen-year-old boy was finally 



