Indeed, it isn't, except that the language used in the original source
was Gauss' mother tongue, German. GW
>
> Bell goes to say that "All philosophical advances had a great charm
> for him [Gauss], although he often disapproved of the means by which
> they had been attained".
Dear Mr Gonzalez,
That is reported by Sartorius in W.Sartorius von Waltershausen:
Gauss zum Gedaechtnis, Leipzig 1856 (note Gauss died in 1855) on page 97;
in German that quote reads as follows: Alle philosophischen Forschungen
uebten auf Gauss' Geist einen maechtigen Reiz aus, obgleich er oefters
die Wege missbilligte, welche man zu ihrer Erreichung eingeschlagen hatte.
See also: Martha Kuessner: Carl Friedrich Gauss und seine Welt der Buecher,
Gottingen 1979 according to Gauss' appreciation of philosophy,
literature, ...
Let me add:
Sartorius pointed out: Fast die einzige Erholung, welche Gauss
sich zur Abwechslung mit seinen mathematischen Studien goennte, war eine
ausgedehnte Lektuere, in den verschiedenen Zweigen des Wissens. Die
Deutsche und Englische schoene Literatur haben in vornehmlich angezogen;
in der letzten Zeit sprach er voll Achtung ueber das Russische, p. 92; Er
las in der Originalsprache ..., p. 91; ... alles was des Menschen Geist
und Brust bewegte, fand bei ihm Teilnahme und beschaeftigte sein
Nachdenken ..., p.91.
Gauss was devoted to history, particularly to English history; again
Sartorius reported, p. 94, that Gauss carefully read Macauly's History of
England, several times.
Gauss also appreciated the novel-writing by Sir Walter Scott (1771 -
1832); Scott was also admired by German J. W. von Goethe and French
Gustave Flaubert. Scott is considered the founder and classic of modern
historical novel-writing; Scott gave a view of the historical past by
means of imagination and romanticism. Sartorius reported, p. 93,
according to Sir Walter Scott, that Gauss ... dessen Werk ... nach allen
Richtungen hin gut kannte ... See also Kuessner and Gauss' correspondence.
My remarks show the close connection of Gauss to the English
speaking world. This will be underlined by the fact that Gauss' favourite
maxim was "Though, nature, art my goddess; to thy laws my services are
bound". With law instead of laws this is the saying of Edmund,
illegitimate son of Gloucester, in Shakespeare's King Lear I.2.
Goettingen the main stay of Gauss during his lifetime, belonged to
the Electorate Hannover which was united with England and Ireland with
this union being governed by an English King. After Napoleon was defeated,
the Wiener Kongress made the Electorate Hannover a Kingdom. Until 1837
William IV (1765 - 1837) was King of this union. His reign started in
1830. After his death his brother became as Ernst August (1771 - 1851)
King of an independent kingdom Hannover, while the nice of William, he
had no children, became as Victoria Queen of England and Ireland. You
know the famous Victorian Age! This is a rough simplification of English
History from 1714 to 1837, determined by the Hannoverian dynasty of
English sovereigns which started in 1714 by Georg Ludwig (1660 - 1727)
who rooted in Calenberg (Calenberger Land), a region near Hannover
(Germany), was elected Elector of Hannover in 1698 and became as George
I King of England und Ireland in 1714. His son Georg II August (1683 -
1760) who was born in Herrenhausen, now a part of the city of Hannover,
and, about 1734, founded Goettingen University, named after him as
Georgia Augusta, and the Goettinger Societaet der Wissenschaften, one
famous member of which was Gauss, later on. "Die Societaet gewann
Bedeutung fuer die Entwicklung von Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften in
Goettingen und setzte damals neue Massstaebe fuer die Aufgabenstellung der
Universitaet und die Entwicklung des wissenschaftlichen Personals". This
was pointed out by Christian Gottlob Heyne (1729 - 1812), professor of
Latin and Greek at Goettingen University, head of Goettinger
Universitaetsbibliothek who also directed a famous altphilologisches
Seminar, well-known students of which were Wilhelm and Alexander von
Humboldt (you South American know the latter very well) and Gauss who
intended to become a teacher in the ancient languages, but changed
completely to mathematics when he discovered the construction of the
Siebzehneck by ruler and compass. Satorius reported that Gauss read the
bibel in Greek, until the end of his life.
Another one who directed the student Gauss to sciences in England
was Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799), professor of physics at
Goettingen, who hold the view that "Wieviele Kante, Euler, Klaperothe
haben wir denn? ...Die Englaender bekuemmern sich wenig darum, was andere
moegen gewusst haben, und suchen immer weiter zu gehen, als das allgemein
Bekannte reicht, und stehen sich dabei recht gut, und, moechte ich fast
hinzusetzen, wir uns auch - naemlich bei den Erfindungen der Englaender"
(Lichtenberg, correspondence). Note that Gauss was deeply devoted to the
work of Newton.
Let me finish by mentioning Shakespeare's overwhelming influence on
German cultural life during the lifetime of Gauss: "Indeed, from the time
of Lessing, in the eighteenth century, to the mid-19th century, German
critics and scholars made substantial and original contributions to the
interpretation of Shakespeare, indicating Shaekespeare's superlative
artistery ...the acknowledged assessment of Shakespeare's keen
intelligence led to his being associated with almost every school of
thought in religion, politics, morals, psychology and metaphysics ..."
(Encyclopaedia Britannica). Let me name, here, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749 - 1832) and A. W. Schlegel (1767 - 1845), his essay in 1797 on
Romeo and Julliet was famous in this context; he started translating
Shakespeare, this translation being continued by Ludwig Tieck (1776 -
1851), his daughter Dorothea (1799 - 1841), and W. H. Graf Baudissin
(Shakespeare's dramatische Werke, 9 Bde, 1825 -1833). This translation
is a classic now!
There was a poet to whom Gauss was deeply devoted, namely Jean
Paul (1763 - 1825) (der vortreffliche Jean Paul in the saying of Gauss)
who (Paul) spoke of Shakespeare as "... Shakespeare - die magna charta
des Theaters fuer Deutsch[land] - anfangs mein Geliebter und dann mein
Gott"(Jean Paul, correspondence). The devotion of Gauss to Jean Paul
whom he never met was characterised by a letter (1.1.1813) to Jean Paul
written by the French writer Charles F.D.de Villars (1765 - 1815): "...
unter ihren waermsten Anbetern hier ist der Himmel=, Zahlen= und
Sideralmann Prof. Gauss. Der stille, sanfte, geistreiche Gauss liest und
liebt sie beinahe so leidenschaftlich wie ich. Diese gemeinschaftliche
Neigung hat uns zusammengefuehrt, und ich habe den Freund Ihnen zu
danken, mit dem ich vielleicht sonst wenig Beruehrungspunkte gehabt
haette." (Jean Paul, correspondence).
This letter was written in German by Villars, who was also a
freemann of Bremen (German city at the seaside), and published on Luther
(the German Reformer), history of literature, universities, ... Villars
was also in close friendship with Friedrich Schlegel (1772 - 1829), the
theoretical leader of the Jenaer Fruehromantik (named after Jena, a city
in Germany). Schlegel was married with Dorothea (1763 - 1839), eldest
daughter of the famous German philosopher Moses Mendelsohn (1729 -
1786).
Note also that Joseph Gauss (1806 - 1837), eldest son of Gauss, in
1836-1837 studied the USA railway practise by going to the USA for about
one year (Horst Michling: Joseph Gauss' Amerikareise vom Jahre 1836 in
Mitteilungen der Gauss-Gesellschaft E. V. Goettingen, Nr 28, 1991,
pp 25-54 - the other two sons of Gauss, Eugen (1811 - 1896) und Wilhelm
(1813 - 1879), emigrated to the USA. They had a lot of children, so the
USA-branch of the Gauss family consists of many members.
In Germany, Joseph had only one son, so there are only a few
offsprings, here.(See for reference Horst Michling: Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Episoden aus dem Leben des Princeps Mathematicorum, 2nd edition 1982,
and the above Mitteilungen Nr.28, page 94, for a photo of Ing. Karl
Gauss, a living offspring of C. F. Gauss, with his two sons Carsten und
Ruediger).
See also the German bill the value of which is 10 DM - both sides
of it refer by graphical design to Gauss' main contributions to mathematics
and its applications, in addition the front side shows Goettingen and a
picture of Gauss. For decoding the graphics see again the above
Mitteilungen Nr. 28: Der neue Zehn-Mark-Schein, p. 95 - 98.
Railway practise refers to Gauss' contributions on surveying which
is a another big chapter in mathematics and its applications.
Kind regards,
Gerhard Warnecke