d the heliotrope, which worked by reflecting the Sun's rays using a design of mirrors and a small telescope. But inaccurate base lines used for the survey and an unsatisfactory network of triangles.Gauss often doubted his work in the profession, but over the course of ten years, from 1820 to 1830, published over seventy papers. From the early 1800's Gauss had had an interest in the question of the possible existence of a non-Euclidean geometry. In a book review of 1816 Gauss discussed proofs which suggested and supported his belief in non-Euclidean geometry (which was later proved to exist), though he was quite vague. Gauss later confined in one of his fellow theoreticians that he believed his reputation would suffer if he admitted to the public the existence of such a geometry.The period of time from 1817 to 1832 was a particularly hard time for Gauss. He took in his sick mother, who stayed with him until her death twenty-two years later. At the same time he was in a dispute with his wife and her family about whether they should move to Berlin, where Gauss had been offered a job. Minna, his wife, and hr family were enthusiastic about the move, but Gauss, who did not like change, decided to stay in Gottingen. Minna died in 1831 after a long illness. In 1832, Gauss and a colleague of his, Wilhelm Weber, began studying the theory of terrestrial magnetism. Gauss was quite enthusiastic about this prospect and by 1840, had written three important papers on the subject. These papers all dealt the current theories on terrestrial magnetism, absolute measure for magnetic force, and an empirical definition of terrestrial magnetism.Gauss and Weber achieved much in their six years together. The two discovered Kirchoff's laws, as well as building a primitive telegraph device. However, this was just an enjoyable hobby of Gauss's. He was more interested in the task of setting up a world wide net of magnetic observation points. This vocation produced a...
