In the 1830s, 19-year-old political activist Evariste Galois ,the greatest mathematical geniuses in human history, with no
formal mathematical training proved that no such formula existed.
He invented the concept of a group to solve this problem.
After being challenged to a dual at age 20 that he knew he would lose, Galois spent the last few days of his life frantically writing down what he had discovered. In a final letter Galois wrote, “Later there will be, I hope, some people who will find it to their advantage to decipher all this mess.”
Hermann Weyl (1885–1955) described Galois’ final letter as: “if judged by the novelty and profundity of ideas it contains, is perhaps the most substantial piece of writing in the whole literature of mankind.” Thus was born the field of group theory!
The night before a duel that Evariste Galois ´
knew he would lose, the 20-year-old stayed up
late preparing his mathematical findings in a
letter to Auguste Chevalier
