[FOM] Gauss and non-Euclidean geometry

[Andre.Rodin@ens.fr]

Drago wrote to Kutateladze:

> You superimpose contemporary
> mathematics (differential geometry) upon an old historical event.

May I ask you if you deny that Gauss' work on geometry of curved surfaces
qualifies as an early instance of differential geometry? What is usally said
about Bolyai and Lobachevsky involves much more historical modernisation than
this since today people often think about works of these authors from the point
of view of Hilbert's Axiomatic method which didn't exist at the time. For this
reason I cannot see the relevance of your further examples.

best,
andrei