Gauss and the Global Magnetic Field
Gauss? What is it, who is it named after? Where and when did gauss obtain this “identity?” Let’s take a walk back in time and look at the who, where and when of magnets and Gauss…
Public interest in science owes a great deal to Alexander Von Humboldt (1769--1859). As a young man Alexander explored the jungles of South America, but much of his life was spent in Paris, where he tirelessly drew the public's attention to the achievements of the natural sciences. Late in life he assembled his scientific knowledge into a monumental set of volumes titled " Kosmos."
Carl Friedrich Gauss |
In a 1828 meeting Humboldt suggested to the greatest German mathematician of his time, Carl Friedrich Gauss, that he ought to apply his talents to the mysteries of magnetism. Gauss and his associate Weber then built a laboratory to study magnetism, in which, among other things, they devised the world's first magnetic telegraph.
Up to that time, the compass needle--and the downward-pointing "dip needle" on a horizontal axis--measured well the direction of the magnetic force, but what about measuring its strength? Gauss devised a clever method
Posted by Jay Roberts at 05:54 AM | Permalink
