Orive, RafaelOsete López, María LuisaDíaz Díaz, Jesús IldefonsoFernández, José2023-06-192023-06-1920150033-455310.1007/s00024-014-0961-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/33813Mathematics plays a fundamental role in all scientific fields and, of course, in the Geosciences. This has been specially well known since, for example, the beginning of geodesy in the Greek era (VANÍC EK and KRAKIWSKY 1992) or in the pioneering studies of planet Earth's interior and the description of the Earth's potential fields (geomagnetic and gravimetric). We can remember that Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), who is recognized as one of the history's most influential mathematicians, had a remarkable.engjournal articlehttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00024-014-0961-1http://link.springer.comrestricted access528Geodesia2504 Geodesia