On May 30, 1832 a duel took place in Paris in which a young man — barely twenty years old — was lethally wounded.
On May 30, 1832 a duel took place in Paris in which a young man — barely twenty years old — was lethally wounded. Much later, he turned out to be one of the greatest mathematical minds in history. Although it was clear during his lifetime that he had “some” talent as a mathematician, nobody really understood what most of the “gibberish” Galois wrote was really about. His papers and ideas were often rejected, he wasn’t allowed to enter the highly prestigious École Normale Supérieure, and he was a bit of a hothead as well — especially when not understood yet again. He simply was too much ahead of his time. To add insult to injury, he was also deeply involved in the French revolution, and was used to spending time in jail if the action required this. Galois was a rebel, on the streets, and also in the mathematical mist. Unfortunately, he was talked into a duel for unknown reasons, but most probably the cause of the dual was a broken love — some say she was a prostitute, others claims she ...