The Brilliant Teenage Mathematician Who Died Too Young
Évariste Galois, his mathematical contributions, and his unfortunate death
He is one of the prominent figures in the field of mathematics and one could only speculate what feats he could have achieved if he was blessed with more time in his life. Évariste Galois was a 19th-century French Mathematician and a political activist. He lost his life unfortunately at the tender age of just 20, but during this short life, he made unfathomable contributions to the field of abstract algebra which eventually became the foundational principle for what is called Group Theory.
He was born on October 25th, 1811 in Bourg-la-Reine, Paris. His father detested conservative ideas and had a liberal mindset. Also, he was a strong supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte. His father later went on and became the mayor of that town. His mother was literate with a strong background in classics and languages. She was well-versed, to say the least. So for 12 years of his life, he was educated by his mother. Other than academic knowledge, his mother imparted some political ideologies like ‘The skepticism against organized religion’ when he was being taught by her. Mathematics was not a strong suit of his mother and he wasn’t taught much about it as it was not considered that important at that time.
