Gauss and the eight queens problem: A study in miniature of the propagation of historical error

AbstractAn 1874 article by J. W. L. Glaisher asserted that the eight queens problem of recreational mathematics originated in 1850 with Franz Nauck proposing it to Gauss, who then gave the complete solution. In fact the problem was first proposed two years earlier by Max Bezzel, proposed again by Nauck in a newspaper Gauss happened to read, and only partially solved by Gauss in a casual attempt. Glaisher had access to an accurate account of the history in German but perhaps could not read the language well; the error subsequently spread through the recreational mathematics literature