How was Carl Friedrich Gauss influential?

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Gauss wrote the first systematic textbook on algebraic number theory and rediscovered the asteroid Ceres. He published works on number theory, the mathematical theory of map construction, and many other subjects. After Gauss’s death in 1855, the discovery of many novel ideas among his unpublished papers extended his influence into the remainder of the century.