# can we say Carl Gauss is the greatest mathematician to ever live **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550 "2014-03-25T20:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/21 "2014-03-26T12:27:04Z")
Clearly we cannot make that statement. It is widely known that “the greatest [mathematician] who ever got chalk on his coat” was a student of, or at least influenced by, Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky ([Lehrer, 1951](http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/lehrer/lobachevsky.htm)). Gauss (1777-1855) and Lobachevsky (1792-1856) were contemporaries, and, if anything, Lobachevsky was influenced by Gauss, not the other way around. Q.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/22 "2014-03-26T13:10:19Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Clearly we cannot make that statement. Which? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/23 "2014-03-26T14:26:22Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Which? That Carl Gauss is the greatest mathematician to ever live. I have demonstrated that there exists at least one greater mathematician - the “greatest ever to get chalk on his coat”. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/24 "2014-03-26T15:24:24Z")
I could be remembering wrong but weren’t some of Gauss’ achievements not published and discovered in his notes after someone else made a similar discovery. Not to diminish what he did (IIRC) but it had an impact on his influence. Still, I’d go with Archimedes, Gauss and Newton. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/25 "2014-03-26T19:15:28Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Clearly we cannot make that statement. . . . > [@Bullitt](#): > > Which? Well, some of us got it… ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/26 "2014-03-27T01:48:52Z")
It is hard to compare mathematician of different eras. No responder has mentioned David Hilbert, but he had Gauss to draw on. Gauss had Euler; Euler had Newton; Newton had Archimedes. All made astounding breakthroughs. I don’t see Cauchy in the same class. The most important thing he did was lose Galois’s manuscript and arguably contributing to his death at age 20. Although Ramanujan made some astounding discoveries, he didn’t open a new area of mathematics the way Galois did. Of course, Galois didn’t have a body of work and cannot be fairly compared to the really greats. But had he lived… Still, I cannot make an argument that Gauss was not the greatest mathematician ever. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/27 "2014-03-27T05:44:59Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Still, I cannot make an argument that Gauss was not the greatest mathematician ever. Karl Gauss may not be the very best mathematician ever, but he is a wonderful doctor, with such tiny fingers! Between those skills, there’s nothing he can’t work out with paper and pencils! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/28 "2014-03-27T14:49:45Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > That Carl Gauss is the greatest mathematician to ever live. I have demonstrated that there exists at least one greater mathematician - the “greatest ever to get chalk on his coat”. Well, even granting the existence of Lobachevsky’s student, and that he is the “greatest ever to get chalk on his coat”, I’m sure that Gauss and any other great mathematician would point out that you have not yet proved Gauss’s inferiority until you have also shown that Gauss did indeed get chalk on his coat. There is also ambiguity about whether there exists-- besides non-chalked coated mathematicians who may or may not be greater – a chalk-coated \*female \*mathematician that is even greater than the song’s narrator. Anyway all I have to say on the subject is: I suppose you’ve heard of Aristotle, Newton, Gauss? Morons. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/29 "2014-03-27T17:28:10Z")
I would have selected Gauss as the greatest up until I hit grad school, then Euler’s name is everywhere. So, even though Carl is my hero, Euler was the greatest. I think we can all agree that their names are perfect though: short, even punchy, yet unusual. Imagine 'Ramanujanian elimination" as a chapter title - I would turn back based on the name alone. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/30 "2014-03-27T18:31:13Z")
Well, mathematician Tom Lehrer, PhD, Harvard, is by far the most influential mathematician on my life. His recorded teachings have permanently warped my world view. That and he invented jello shots. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/31 "2014-03-27T18:44:18Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Well, mathematician Tom Lehrer, PhD, Harvard, is by far the most influential mathematician on my life. His recorded teachings have permanently warped my world view. Well, by that standard, Charles Dodgson is pretty high up there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/32 "2014-03-28T14:58:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Well, by that standard, Charles Dodgson is pretty high up there. In order to be correct, you shouldn’t end you sentences with prepositions. Thus: _Well, by that standard, Charles Dodgson is pretty high_. ---
**Author:** ![thanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@thanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thanatic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/33 "2015-08-22T02:42:56Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > I could be remembering wrong but weren’t some of Gauss’ achievements not published and discovered in his notes after someone else made a similar discovery. Not to diminish what he did (IIRC) but it had an impact on his influence. > > Still, I’d go with Archimedes, Gauss and Newton. isn’t that the sort of consensus 3 among mathematicians ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/34 "2015-08-22T03:14:19Z")
Abel, Galois, Ramanujan. Gauss, Euler, and Cauchy had way more time to work. ---
**Author:** ![thanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@thanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thanatic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/35 "2015-08-22T03:33:21Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Abel, Galois, Ramanujan. Gauss, Euler, and Cauchy had way more time to work. true but out of all those names, who do you say is the greatest ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/36 "2015-08-22T03:43:58Z")
I’m a Gaussian. (That may ring a bell.) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/37 "2015-08-22T12:03:41Z")
Georg Cantor makes the list; only guy to explain infinity. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/38 "2015-08-22T21:48:46Z")
Paul Erdős might not be the greatest but he certainly should be in the top 3. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/39 "2015-08-22T23:09:20Z")
Gauss himself is [supposed to have said](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthold_Eisenstein#Purported_Gauss_quote): > [@Gauss](#): > > “There have been but three epoch-making mathematicians, Archimedes, Newton, and Eisenstein”. (emphasis added) As per the Wiki cite, the above quote is basically the recollection of what one of Gauss’s students ([Moritz Cantor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritz_Cantor), not the infinity Cantor) recalls Gauss saying. [Here](http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Sciences/IIMS/RLIMS/Volume06/The_life_of_Gotthold_Ferdinand_Eisenstein.pdf) is a bio of Eisenstein. For a guy who died before he was 30, [he seems to have done a lot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthold_Eisenstein#See_also). But, who am I to say? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550/40 "2015-08-22T23:40:58Z")
Von Neumann bitch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-say-carl-gauss-is-the-greatest-mathematician-to-ever-live/684550.md?page=3)