Evariste Galois (1811-1832) - French mathematician, founder of modern higher algebra, radical revolutionary republican. He was shot in a duel at the age of 20.
There are many interesting facts in Galois's biography, which we will talk about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Evariste Galois.
Galois biography
Evarist Galois was born on October 25, 1811 in the French suburb of Bourg-la-Rene. He grew up and was raised in the family of a republican and the mayor of the city, Nicolas-Gabriel Galois and his wife Adelaide-Marie Demant.
In addition to Evariste, two more children were born in the Galois family.
Childhood and youth
Until the age of 12, Évariste was educated under the leadership of his mother, who was familiar with classical literature.
After that, the boy entered the Royal College of Louis-le-Grand. When he was 14 years old, he first became seriously interested in mathematics.
Galois began to study various works in mathematics, including the works of Niels Abelard in the field of solving equations of arbitrary degree. He immersed himself so deeply in science that he began to conduct his own research.
When Evariste was 17 years old, he published his first work. However, at that time, his biographies did not arouse any interest among mathematicians.
This was largely due to the fact that his solutions to problems often exceeded the level of knowledge of teachers. He rarely put ideas that were obvious to him on paper without realizing that they were not obvious to other people.
Education
When Évariste Galois tried to enter the Ecole Polytechnique, he could not pass the exam twice. It is worth noting that it was extremely important for him to enter this particular institution, since it served as a refuge for the Republicans.
For the first time, the young man's laconic decisions and the lack of oral explanations led to the failure of the exam. The following year, he was refused admission to school for the same reason that infuriated him.
In desperation, Evariste threw a rag at the examiner. After that he sent his work to the famous French mathematician Cauchy. He appreciated the guy's solutions, but the work never got to the Paris Academy for the competition of mathematical works, since Cauchy was lost.
In 1829, a Jesuit published evil pamphlets allegedly written by Evariste's father (Nicholas-Gabriel Galois was famous for writing sarcastic pamphlets). Unable to withstand the shame, Galois Sr. decided to end his life.
In the same year, Evariste finally managed to become a student of the Higher Normal School. However, after 1 year of study, the guy was expelled from the institution, due to his participation in political speeches of the republican direction.
Galois's failures did not stop there. When he sent the work with his discoveries to Fourier to participate in the competition for the prize of the Academy of memoirs, he died a few days later.
The manuscript of the young mathematician was lost somewhere and Abel became the winner of the competition.
After that, Evariste shared his ideas with Poisson, who was critical of the guy's work. He stated that Galois's reasoning lacks clarity and substantiveness.
Evarist continued to preach the postulates of the Republicans, for which he was twice sent to prison for short periods.
During his last imprisonment, Galois fell ill, in connection with which he was transferred to a hospital. There he met a girl named Stephanie, who was the daughter of a doctor named Jean-Louis.
Evarista's biographers do not exclude the fact that the lack of reciprocity on the part of Stephanie was the main reason for the tragic death of the brilliant scientist.
Scientific achievements
For 20 years of his life and only 4 years of passion for mathematics, Galois managed to make major discoveries, thanks to which he was recognized as one of the most outstanding mathematicians of the 19th century.
The guy studied the problem of finding a general solution to an equation of arbitrary degree, finding the appropriate condition for the roots of the equation to admit expression in terms of radicals.
At the same time, the innovative ways in which Evarist found solutions deserve special attention.
The young scientist laid the foundations of modern algebra, coming out on such fundamental concepts as a group (Galois was the first to use this term, actively studying symmetric groups) and a field (finite fields are called Galois fields).
On the eve of his death, Evarist recorded a number of his studies. In general, his works are few in number and are written extremely succinctly, for which reason Galois's contemporaries could not understand the essence of the matter.
Only decades after the death of the scientist, his discoveries were understood and commented on by Joseph Louisville. As a result, Evariste's works laid the foundation for a new direction - the theory of abstract algebraic structures.
In subsequent years, Galois's ideas gained more and more popularity, taking mathematics to a higher level.
Death
Evariste was mortally wounded in a duel that took place on May 30, 1862 near one of the Parisian reservoirs.
It is believed that the cause of the conflict was a love affair, but it could also be a provocation on the part of the royalists.
The duelists fired at each other from a distance of several meters. The bullet hit the math in the stomach.
A few hours later, the wounded Galois was noticed by a bystander who helped him get to the hospital.
To this day, the scientist's biographers cannot say with certainty about the true motives of the duel, and also find out the name of the shooter.
Evariste Galois died the next day, May 31, 1832, at the age of 20.
Photo by Evariste Galois
