Abstract
The early development and untimely death of a genius is a well-known theme in general (“Whom the gods love …”), and in musical biography in particular, with Mozart and Schubert as outstanding examples. But three geniuses among the nineteenth century mathematicians, whose lives were cut off all too soon, make Mozart’s death at close to 37 years, and even Schubert’s at hardly less than 32 years, almost seem to have come at a reasonably mature age. The mathematicians are Evariste Galois — who lost his life at 20 in an absurd duel, Niels Henrik Abel — who succumbed to tuberculosis at age 26, and finally Gotthold Eisenstein, whose frail body held out exactly 1000 days longer than Abel’s, before giving in to the same disease.
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Schappacher, N. (1998). Gotthold Eisenstein. In: Begehr, H., Koch, H., Kramer, J., Schappacher, N., Thiele, EJ. (eds) Mathematics in Berlin. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8787-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8787-8_7
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
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