Niels henrik abel mathematician biography index
Niels Henrik Abel
Norwegian mathematician (1802–1829)
Niels Henrik Abel (AH-bəl, Norwegian:[ˌnɪlsˈhɛ̀nːɾɪkˈɑ̀ːbl̩]; 5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation in radicals. This question was one of the outstanding open problems of his day, and had been unresolved for over 250 years. He was also an innovator in the field of elliptic functions and the discoverer of Abelian functions. He made his discoveries while living in poverty and died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis.
Most of his work was done in six or seven years of his working life. Regarding Abel, the French mathematician Charles Hermite said: "Abel has left mathematicians enough to keep them busy for five hundred years." Another French mathematician, Adrien-Marie Legendre, said: "What a head the young Norwegian has!"
The Abel Prize in mathematics, originally proposed in 1899 to complement the Nobel Prizes (but first awarded in 2003), is named in his honour.
Life
Early life
Niels Henrik Abel was born prematurely in Nedstrand, Norway, as the second child of the pastor Søren Georg Abel and Anne Marie Simonsen. When Niels Henrik Abel was born, the family was living at a rectory on Finnøy. Much suggests that Niels Henrik was born in the neighboring parish, as his parents were guests of the bailiff in Nedstrand in July / August of his year of birth.
Niels Henrik Abel's father, Søren Georg Abel, had a degree in theology and philosophy and served as pastor at Finnøy. Søren's father, Niels's grandfather, Hans Mathias Abel, was also a pastor, at Gjerstad Church near the town of Risør. Søren had spent his childhood at Gjerstad, and had also served as chaplain there; and after his
Niels Henrik Abel
Born: 5 Aug 1802 in Finnoy (an island near Stavanger), Norway
Died: 6 April 1829 in Froland, Norway
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Niels Abel proved the impossibility of solving algebraically the general equation of the fifth degree.Abel's life was dominated by poverty. After the death of his father, who was a Protestant minister, in 1820 Abel had the responsibility of supporting his mother and family.
Abel's teacher Holmboe, recognising his talent for mathematics, raised money from his colleagues to enable Abel to attend Christiania University. He entered the university in 1821, 10 years after the university was founded, and graduated in 1822.
Abel published in 1823 papers on functional equations and integrals. In it Abel gives the first solution of an integral equation. In 1824 he proved the impossibility of solving algebraically the general equation of the fifth degree and published it at his own expense hoping to obtain recognition for his work.
He eventually won a scholarship from the Norwegian government to travel abroad, visiting Germany and France.
Abel was instrumental in establishing mathematical analysis on a rigorous basis. His major work Recherches sur les fonctions elliptiques was published in 1827 in the first volume of Crelle's Journal, the first journal devoted entirely to mathematics. Abel met Crelle on his visit to Germany.
After visiting Paris he returned to Norway heavily in debt. While in Paris he visited a doctor who informed him he had tuberculosis. Despite his bad health and poverty he continued writing papers on equation theory and elliptic functions of major importance in the development of the whole theory. Abel revolutionised the understanding of elliptic functions by studying the inverse of these functions.
Abel travelled by sled to visit his fianceé for Christmas 1828 in Froland. He became seriously ill on the sled journey and died a couple of months later.
References (13 books/a Niels Henrik Abel Alma mater : Royal Frederick University Niels Henrik Abel (5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation in radicals. This question was one of the outstanding open problems of his day, and had been unresolved for 250 years. He was also an innovator in the field of elliptic functions, discoverer of Abelian functions. Despite his achievements, Abel was largely unrecognized during his lifetime; he made his discoveries while living in poverty and died at the age of 26. Most of his work was done in six or seven years of his working life. Regarding Abel, the French mathematician Charles Hermite said: "Abel has left mathematicians enough to keep them busy for five hundred years." Another French mathematician, Adrien-Marie Legendre, said: "what a head the young Norwegian has!". Niels Henrik Abel was born in Nedstrand, Norway, as the second child of Søren Georg Abel and Anne Marie Simonsen. When he was born, the family was living at a rectory on Finnøy. Much suggests that Niels Henrik was born in the neighboring parish, as his parents were guests of the bailiff in Nedstrand in July / August of his year of birth. Niels Henrik Abel's father, Søren Georg Abel, had a degree in theology and philosophy Abel was born in Nedstrand, Norway, as second child to Søren Georg Abel and Anne Marie Simonsen. When he was born the family lived at the rectory at Finnøy. Much suggests that Niels Henrik was born in the neighboring parish, as their parents were guests at the bailiff in Nedstrand in July / August of his year of birth. Abel's father, Søren Georg Abel, had a degree in theology and philosophy and served as pastor at Finnøy. Abel's grandfather, Hans Mathias Abel, was pastor atGjerstadnearRisør. After the latter's death, in 1804, Søren Georg Abel was appointed pastor at Gjerstad and the family moved there. Søren Georg Abel spent his childhood, and had also served as chaplain, at Gjerstad. Anne Marie Simonsen was from Risør and her father, Niels Henrik Saxild Simonsen, was a tradesman and merchant ship-owner. He was said to be the richest person in Risør. Anne Marie had grown up with two step-mothers, in relative luxurious surroundings. At Gjerstad rectory she enjoyed arranging balls and social gatherings. Much suggests she was early on an alcoholic and took little interest in the upbringing of the children.Niels Henrik and his brothers were lectured by their father, with handwritten books to read. Interestingly, a subtraction table in a book of mathematics reads 1-0=0. With the independence and first election of Norway in 1814, Abel's father was voted in as a representative to the Storting. Meetings of the Storting were until 1866 held in the main hall of the Cathedral School in Christiania (now known as Oslo). Most certainly this is how he got in contact with the school, and decided his eldest son, Hans Mathia
Known for
Abel's binomial theorem
Abelian category
Abelian variety
Abel equation
Abel equation of the first kind
Abelian extension
Abel function
Abelian group
Abel's identity
Abel's inequality
Abel's irreducibility theorem
Abel–Jacobi map
Abel–Plana formula
Abel–Ruffini theorem
Abelian means
Abel's summation formula
Abelian and tauberian theorems
Abel's test
Abel's theorem
Abel transform
Abel transformation
Abelian variety
Abelian variety of CM-type
Dual abelian varietyAugust 05, 2010
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Niels Henrik Abel (August 5, 1802 – April 6, 1829) was a noted Norwegian mathematicianwho proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equationin radicals.