Abel, Niels Henrik 1802-29
Norwegian mathematician

Born in Finn�y, he showed mathematical genius by the age of 15, entered Oslo University in 1821, and in 1823 proved that there is no algebraic formula for the solution of a general polynomial equation of the 5th degree. Such a formula had been sought ever since the cubic and quartic equations had been solved in the 16th century by Girolamo Cardano and others. He developed the concept of elliptic functions independently of Carl Gustav Jacobi, and pioneered its extension to the theory of Abelian integrals and functions, which became a central theme of later 19th-century analysis, although his work was not fully understood in his lifetime. Abel emphasized the analogy of the elliptic functions with the familiar trigonometric functions, and the new functions became influential in the development of complex analysis.

Bibliography: Eric T Bell, Men of Mathematics (1937)