2 ms·

Does Gauss's headstone actually have a 17-pointed star on the back? I can't find any pictures of this online.

by jordigh 2y ago

sameoldtune 2y ago
The end of the article indicates it does not
- jordigh 2y ago
  Huh? No, the article says the stonemason chose a star because nobody would be able to tell that a 17-gon isn't a circle. I have heard this story repeated before in Gaussian biographies, but I'm surprised I can't find a single picture online that shows that this did or did not happen.
  - yardshop 2y ago
    The article says the 17-point star is on a monument to Gauss in his home town of Brunswick Germany, not on his headstone. An image search for "gauss monument brunswick germany" on Duck Duck Go includes a picture of the 17-point star at this link: https://www.braunschweig.de/leben/stadtportraet/stadtteile/noerdl_ringgebiet/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss.php https://www.braunschweig.de/leben/stadtportraet/stadtteile/n... I can't go to it to confirm because we are blocked from going to foreign links at my work place. It looks like the star is on the left side of the monument near his right foot.
    - mungoman2 2y ago
      Image showing the star on the statue https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braunschweig_Gauss-Denkmal_Stern-Seite.JPG https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braunschweig_Gauss...
  - mc32 2y ago
    If they made the sides slightly outwardly concave, think an opened bottle cap, it would highlight the vertices and I think that would help people identify it as a polygon rather then a circle --I definitely could be wrong though.
plg94 2y ago
The headstone (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/media/Datei:Grave_of_Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F_at_Albani-Friedhof_G%C3%B6ttingen_2017_02.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/medi...) does not (it does feature the star of David, but I couldn't find any notion that Gauß was jewish). But there's a statue with that star (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/media/Datei:Braunschweig_Gauss-Denkmal_17-eckiger_Stern.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/medi...)
- smcin 2y ago
  FYI Gauss's grave is in Albani cemetery, 37085 Göttingen, Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanifriedhof https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanifriedhof But per below comments, the star is on the monument in Brunswick/Braunschweig, not on his headstone.
- ralfd 2y ago
  Gauß wasn’t jewish and it was a Christian cemetery. The gravestone insinuates the form of a cross and the David star just symbolizes the Old Testament.
seanhunter 2y ago
Gauss's tombstone actually has a circle[1]. Gauss wanted the heptadecagon (not stellated, a regular 17-gon) but the mason making the tombstone decided it was similar enough to a circle for it not to matter and doing a 17-gon was too hard so he just did a circle. So arguably the greatest mathematician of all time[2] wanted a particular tribute to something he did while a teenager, felt was one of his greatest achievements (because the problem had been unsolved for over 2000 years) and someone just decided they couldn't be arsed. The whole thing is described really well here, including showing the full construction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7U0DGBmbM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7U0DGBmbM [1] Picture here https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-carl-friedrich-gauss https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-carl-friedrich-... [2] My vote would go for Euler, but a lot of people feel Gauss.

Does Gauss's headstone actually have a 17-pointed star on the back? I can't find any pictures of this online.

sameoldtune 2y ago

The end of the article indicates it does not

jordigh 2y ago
Huh? No, the article says the stonemason chose a star because nobody would be able to tell that a 17-gon isn't a circle. I have heard this story repeated before in Gaussian biographies, but I'm surprised I can't find a single picture online that shows that this did or did not happen.
- yardshop 2y ago
  The article says the 17-point star is on a monument to Gauss in his home town of Brunswick Germany, not on his headstone. An image search for "gauss monument brunswick germany" on Duck Duck Go includes a picture of the 17-point star at this link: https://www.braunschweig.de/leben/stadtportraet/stadtteile/noerdl_ringgebiet/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss.php https://www.braunschweig.de/leben/stadtportraet/stadtteile/n... I can't go to it to confirm because we are blocked from going to foreign links at my work place. It looks like the star is on the left side of the monument near his right foot.
  - mungoman2 2y ago
    Image showing the star on the statue https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braunschweig_Gauss-Denkmal_Stern-Seite.JPG https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braunschweig_Gauss...
- mc32 2y ago
  If they made the sides slightly outwardly concave, think an opened bottle cap, it would highlight the vertices and I think that would help people identify it as a polygon rather then a circle --I definitely could be wrong though.

plg94 2y ago

The headstone (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/media/Datei:Grave_of_Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F_at_Albani-Friedhof_G%C3%B6ttingen_2017_02.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/medi...) does not (it does feature the star of David, but I couldn't find any notion that Gauß was jewish). But there's a statue with that star (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/media/Datei:Braunschweig_Gauss-Denkmal_17-eckiger_Stern.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gau%C3%9F#/medi...)

smcin 2y ago
FYI Gauss's grave is in Albani cemetery, 37085 Göttingen, Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanifriedhof https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanifriedhof But per below comments, the star is on the monument in Brunswick/Braunschweig, not on his headstone.
ralfd 2y ago
Gauß wasn’t jewish and it was a Christian cemetery. The gravestone insinuates the form of a cross and the David star just symbolizes the Old Testament.

seanhunter 2y ago

Gauss's tombstone actually has a circle[1]. Gauss wanted the heptadecagon (not stellated, a regular 17-gon) but the mason making the tombstone decided it was similar enough to a circle for it not to matter and doing a 17-gon was too hard so he just did a circle. So arguably the greatest mathematician of all time[2] wanted a particular tribute to something he did while a teenager, felt was one of his greatest achievements (because the problem had been unsolved for over 2000 years) and someone just decided they couldn't be arsed. The whole thing is described really well here, including showing the full construction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7U0DGBmbM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX7U0DGBmbM [1] Picture here https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-carl-friedrich-gauss https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-carl-friedrich-... [2] My vote would go for Euler, but a lot of people feel Gauss.