NIELS HENRIK ABEL (1802 - 1829)

Written by Tore Morten Finstad

Niels Henrik Abel is probably Norways best known mathematician, and he is also well known international. This has three reasons: Abel was a brilliant mathematician who did epoch-making work in at least one of three areas. Beside this, his personal qualities and the many problems he had in his short life, many people has shown interest and pity for him.

Abel was born 5. august 1802 in Finnoey, and lived there the first two years of his life. His father was a vicar, but he drank a lot and this problem followed Abel the rest of his life. The problems at home was one of the reasons that he left his home early and began studying at Christiania cathedral school.

At Christiania cathedral school he met Bernt Holmboe who was a very inspiring and careful teacher. Holmboe discovered Abels unusual abilities in mathematics. He became Abels best friend.

Abel started early to experiment with adding and sundry geometrical theorem with integral and sollutions for the formula by 3rd and 4th grade equation. He tried to find a sollution for the 5th grade equation and he thought he had found it. But after a professor in Denmark had looked at it and sent it back for further information, he didn’t find any mistakes, Abel found out that the equation couldn’t be solved.

The first work Abel got printed (in Norwegian) was about integral arithmetic and mechanic. In one of them he solved an integralproblem, a problem very few deared to trie. In 1825 he got a travel grant. He went to Berlin and later to Paris where he wrote a big treatise finish. This is known as his major masterpiece.

Abel was very often sick, and in christmas 1828, when he was at home, he got tuberculoisis,and this was really serious. He was in bed for a long time, while his fiancee nurced him. Abel died april the 6th 1829. He is buryed at Frolands cemetery. His friends Boeck and Keilhau provided that it was raised a memorial column of him. Two days after his death, a friend in Berlin, Crelle wrote a letter to him and told that Abel was engaged as a professor in Berlin.