Bartels was born in
Braunschweig, in the
Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg (now part of
Lower Saxony,
Germany), the son of
pewterer Heinrich Elias Friedrich Bartels and his wife Johanna Christine Margarethe Köhler. In his childhood he showed a great interest in mathematics. In 1783 he was employed as an assistant to the teacher Büttner in the Katherinenschule in
Braunschweig. He became acquainted with
Carl Friedrich Gauss there and encouraged his talent and recommended him to the
Duke of Brunswick who awarded Gauss a fellowship to the Collegium Carolinum (now
Technische Universität Braunschweig). A friendship developed between Gauss and Bartels and they corresponded between 1799 and 1823. From 23 August 1788 he was a visitor at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunsschweig. On 23 October 1791 Bartels studied mathematics under
Johann Friedrich Pfaff in
Helmstedt and
Abraham Gotthelf Kästner in
Göttingen. In the winter semester of 1793/1794 he studied Experimental Physics, Astronomy, Meteorology and Geology under
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. In 1800 he worked in
Switzerland as
Professor of Mathematics in
Reichenau (
Canton Graubünden). In 1801 he was active in the cantonal school in
Aarau. He married Anna Magdalena Saluz from
Chur in 1802. The
University of Jena promoted him to the Faculty of Philosophy in 1803. In 1807 he was invited to join the
University of Kazan by the founder
Stepan Jakowlewitsch Rumowski (1734–1812), and went there in 1808 where he was appointed to the chair of Mathematics. During his twelve years tenure he lectured on the History of Mathematics, Higher Arithmetic, Differential and Integral Calculus, Analytical Geometry and Trigonometry, Spherical Trigonometry, Analytical Mechanics and Astronomy. During this time he taught
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky. In 1821 he moved to the
University of Dorpat, now
Tartu,
Estonia, where he founded the Centre for
Differential geometry. He remained at Dorpat until his death. He was appointed
Privy Councillor in 1823. From 1826 he was a corresponding member of the
St. Petersburg Academy of Science. He was also awarded high Russian honours. He died in
Dorpat. == Family ==