1802-1829

Norwegian Mathematician

Niels Abel, in his tragically short life, made fundamental contributions to the study of mathematics. He may be best known for his work on elliptic functions and definite integrals, but he also proved the insolvability of quintic equations (equations in which a factor is raised to the fifth power) and a class of functions named for him, the Abelian functions. He also established new standards for mathematical rigor in his work and developed a general proof for Leonhard Euler's binomial theorem.

Abel was born the son of a Lutheran minister in a small town in Norway. He did not attend formal schooling until he was 13, and that school was inadequately staffed, including the Mathematics department. However, shortly after starting, the mathematics teacher was dismissed and replaced by a junior professor from a nearby university, Bernt Holmboe. Under Holmboe's tutelage and encouragement Abel's mathematical...