The Tragic Story of Évariste Galois

"Ne pleure pas, Alfred ! J'ai besoin de tout mon courage pour mourir à vingt ans!" was the last thing Évariste Galois ever said in his short life. In English, this means, "Don't cry, Alfred! I need all my courage to die at twenty!" These words were spoken to Évariste's brother. Évariste was convinced he would die the next day. In fact, he stayed up all night the night before writing letters, trying to get his ideas out on paper before he perished. So, why was he so sure he would be killed?

Évariste Galois was born in October of 1811 in France. His parents were both highly educated, and his mother homeschooled him until he was 12. When he was 14, he began to take an interest in math. When he was 17, he tried to get into a difficult school, but he failed the oral examination because he did not give enough explanations. He went to another school instead, and the next year he started discovering things about the theory of polynomial equations, which are equations with more than one variable (x, y, z, etc). Unfortunately, in 1829 his father, who was a politician, committed suicide after a dispute with the priest. Afterwards, he tried to enter the same prestigious college again, and failed. He was definitely qualified, and no one knows for sure why he failed. Some say he grew exasperated, and threw something at the examiner, or the examiner couldn't understand how he was getting his answers. Still at the mediocre school, Évariste wrote a letter criticizing his school's director for locking the students in the school during a riot and put in it a magazine. Rather than be expelled, he quit school and joined the national guard. His unit was soon disbanded, though. Soon after, Évariste attended a party where he proposed a toast to the king while holding a dagger near his cup. This was taken as a threat to the king, so he was arrested, but released a couple months after. Then, he wore a uniform that he wasn't supposed to on a parade, and so was arrested again! Évariste kept developing his ideas while in prison, and he was released six months later.

About a month later, Évariste was going to a duel. The circumstances of this duel are uncertain, as there are no clear records of this moment. Some sources claim that the duel was about a woman who he fell in love with. She apparently told him of her life, and this may have caused him to provoke the duel on her behalf. The letters he wrote support this theory. Others say that it was an undercover police agent, or someone opposed to his political views. Whoever it was, Évariste knew he would die the next day.

So, what do people do when they think they're going to die the next day? Well, Évariste thought the answer was writing letters. Apparently, he spent the entire night before the duel writing. He wrote mostly to his friends, but he also sent a letter to a famous mathematician. They outlined his ideas about a new branch of math, which he called group theory. These same ideas had been rejected by the mathematician before, but Évariste knew that his ideas were important, and someone needed to have them before he perished. So, Évariste spent the night before his duel frantically scribbling down everything he could think of that he might have discovered. This begs the question, if someone is in a duel, should they get enough sleep, and maybe win the duel, or write down all their ideas in hopes that someone will decipher them and their life will not have been in vain?

As Évariste thought, he did lose the duel the next day, and was abandoned, wounded, in the dust. Someone found him and took him to a hospital, but he passed away the next day. Eventually, mathematicians looked into the letter he had sent them, and discovered that he had some amazing thoughts. They definitely regretted not taking him seriously when he was alive. In 1843 (11 years later!) Évariste's work was finally published. Évariste Galois had a short, but meaningful, life.





Picture:

http://selunec.deviantart.com/art/Evariste-Galois-189586719

Le Petit Colón

The little colonel, Napoleon, was regardless one of the great leaders of early nineteenth century France; he cast a massive shadow over Europe despite being vertically challenged. He was a great general who was viewed as a comrade as apposed to a general existing in a luxurious tent. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most popular commanders in nineteenth century times; he had a unique mind for battlefield tactics, and a great sense of timing in warfare. Undeniably Napoleon was an incredible general, but when examined in depth was flawed in judgment.

As Napoleon grew threw the ranks of the French military he grew immensely in popularity and wealth. General Bonaparte began with small victories where he was granted the opportunity to lead; he thrived immensely and was soaring through the French military system. France was not in a healthy economic state as Napoleon was rising. France was suffering from major food shortages, loathed monarchs, and many unsuccessful battles. France was primed for a revolution, which came in 1789. The citizens of Paris attacked the monarchs and King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were eventually guillotined. Maximillian Robes-Pierre sparked the revolution and was now leading France. He quickly became drunk with power and was bringing France into even deeper troubles. Robes-Pierre led France into the Reign of Terror a horrible time for citizens, with mass executions being held daily. As the people of France were unhappy without the government that they had been promised prior to the revolution this set the stage for a new leader to emerge.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s preferred method of action was understandably conflict based on his military background since the age of nine. As the age of monarchy in France was passed the unsteady state of government and society left France vulnerable to outside attack. France was clearly wrong at this time, using the strength of a crumbling military to kill it’s own people rather than defending from the inclosing nations. Napoleon swiftly rose as the leader of France’s military in dire straights. The invasion of France from Prussia was quickly led away. Napoleon headed a successful invasion of Italy shortly after being appointed leader. This invasion truly gave Napoleon a taste of victory in combat, something that he had not experienced because of him constantly being on the defensive. The military’s success continued in 1797 as Austria, Belgium, and Holland became part of France. However Napoleon was not content with these victories and invaded Venice, robbing the city of many of their most valuable art treasures. Later Napoleon invaded Egypt, the great success of France on land did not continue in the sea and the British navy dominated the French ships in the battle of the Nile. After this defeat Napoleon returned to France, which was again under attack in the north and south he saved France and appointed himself First Council the most powerful man in France. Few years later in 1804 he crowned himself emperor of France, and Britain, Austria, Russia and Sweden joined forces in an attempt to defeat him. In 1805 he smashed both Russia and Austria in one of his most brilliant battles ever and was now virtually the leader of Western and Central Europe. In 1808 the one European country still threatening France was Britain, Napoleon promptly shut off all trade with Britain and continued his conquest over Europe invading Spain. Placing his brother on the throne Napoleon returned to France ordering generals to invade Portugal. In 1811 the Duke of Wellington managed to end the war in Spain and Portugal defeating the French troops. In 1812 Napoleon made his largest, gravest mistake invading Russia. Napoleon had grown power hungry and his judgment had clouded, although France managed to take Moscow, similar to the German Nazis one hundred fifty years later were unprepared for the harsh Russian winter. The casualties in Russia were immense, there were 300,000 men lost in Russia. In 1813 Prussia, Austria, and Britain closed in on Napoleon forcing him back to France, months later Napoleon refused peace offers and the allies invaded, Paris fell in March, 1814 and in April he was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Melba. In only a year Napoleon escaped and returned to power with an army, again the neighboring countries planned to invade. Napoleon attacked his enemy the Duke of Wellington in the battle of Waterloo but was unable to repeat his success, and France again fell. Napoleon was again exiled to the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena where he died in 1821.  Napoleon Bonaparte was immensely respected even by his foes. When his nemesis the Duke of Wellington was asked whom the greatest general was he replied, “In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon.”

Napoleon by, Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon leading on horse back

Napoleon was a beloved leader who brought immense success for France, his troops enjoyed serving under him, and who had an unrelenting thirst for power. Although he became clouded with his talent and the power he had gained he remained and still remains one of the most respected military generals, and leaders of all time.