Gauss and Weber, telegraph inventors. At left is German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855). Gauss worked in areas such as number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, electrostatics, astronomy, and optics. At right is German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804-1891) who worked on acoustics and wave theories. Gauss and Weber worked together in 1833 on the first electromagnetic telegraph, which connected the observatory (where Gauss worked) with the institute for physics (where Weber worked) in Gottingen, Germany. Artwork from 'History of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1871-1931' (Appleyard, 1939). |