Often referred to as the “Prince of Mathematics”, Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss changed the world as nerds know it. This was a guy who corrected an error in his father’s payroll calculations at age three, and who began managing those accounts by age five. So his achievements in the field aren’t too surprising.

In the area of probability and statistics, Gauss introduced what is now known as the ‘Gaussian Function’ - a family of functions that crop up in many areas of science and engineering. Through his work, he showed how probability could be represented by a bell-shaped curve, which peaks around the mean or expected value and quickly falls off towards plus/minus infinity. The Gaussian Function is also used to model financial scenarios, chemical processes and nuclear reactions, while designers might recognize the name from the Gaussian Blur function - all thanks to Mr Gauss.