Évariste Galois

25 October 1811 – 31 May 1832

Évariste Galois (1811-1832) was a French mathematician who, while still a teenager, determined the conditions under which polynomial equations are solvable by radicals, founding what became Galois theory and group theory. A committed republican during the turbulent years after the July Revolution, he died at twenty from wounds received in a duel.

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Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Évariste Galois.

Life events

Born in Bourg-la-Reine, near Paris
25 October 1811

Galois was born to a cultivated family; his father later became mayor of Bourg-la-Reine.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Entered the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris
October 1823

At twelve Galois began formal schooling at Louis-le-Grand, where he later discovered a passion for mathematics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Twice failed the entrance examination to the École Polytechnique
1829

Galois failed the Polytechnique entrance exam in 1828 and again in 1829, shortly after his father's suicide.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Entered the École Normale (École préparatoire)
1829 – 1831

Galois was admitted to the École préparatoire to train as a teacher, continuing his mathematical research there.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Published first mathematical paper on continued fractions
April 1829

While still a student, Galois published a paper on continued fractions in the Annales de mathématiques.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Expelled from the École Normale for republican activism
4 January 1831

After publishing a letter attacking the school's director over his conduct during the July Revolution, Galois was expelled.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Submitted memoir on the solvability of equations to the Academy of Sciences
17 January 1831

His memoir establishing the foundations of Galois theory was rejected by Poisson as insufficiently clear, to Galois's great frustration.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Imprisoned at Sainte-Pélagie for republican agitation
14 July 1831 – 29 April 1832

Arrested after a Bastille Day demonstration while armed and wearing the uniform of the banned Artillery Guard, Galois spent months in prison.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Wrote final letters summarizing his mathematical discoveries
29 May 1832

On the eve of his duel, Galois wrote to his friend Auguste Chevalier outlining his mathematical ideas, a letter that preserved his theory for posterity.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Died in Paris from wounds suffered in a duel
31 May 1832

Galois was shot in the abdomen in a duel on 30 May 1832 and died the following morning at the Cochin hospital, aged twenty.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓