Magnetic club

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Memorial to Gauß (right) and Weber in Göttingen

The Magnetische Verein (also Göttingen Magnetischer Verein ), founded in the 1830s, was a research company based in Göttingen . The main purpose was a global geophysical research project to study the temporal and spatial changes in geomagnetism . It is considered the first international scientific society.

The association was founded by the Göttingen professors Carl Friedrich Gauß and Wilhelm Weber with the support of Alexander von Humboldt . The aim was to measure the fluctuations of the earth's magnetic field in a coordinated manner with numerous measuring stations distributed all over the world.

During a six-year activity from 1836 to 1841, measurements were made on 28 appointment days, each 24 hours at five-minute intervals. Up to 50 observatories took part in this project, 35 of them in Europe, six in Asia, two in Africa, three in North America and four in the South Seas.

The results were delivered to Göttingen and scientifically processed by Gauß and Weber. They published their results in six volumes under the title Results from the Observations of the Magnetic Association . In an additional volume, maps were published that gave the magnetic data valid at that time for every location on the globe. Lines connected the points with the same declination , the same inclination and the same field strength . This publication represented a milestone in the history of the natural sciences.

The collaboration between Gauß and Humboldt is also one of the literary themes of the bestselling novel Die Vermessung der Welt by Daniel Kehlmann , published in 2005 .

See also

literature

  • Horst Michling: Carl Friedrich Gauss. From the life of the Princeps Mathematicorum. 5th edition. Verlag Göttinger Tageblatt, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-924781-52-4 .

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