RePoSS #11: The Mathematics of Niels Henrik Abel: Continuation ...

Chapter 2
Biography of NIELS HENRIK ABEL
The life of NIELS HENRIK ABEL (1802–1829) was not always a happy one. Born in
a time of national upheaval and into a family with few provisions against the hard
times, his actions were always restricted by pecuniary concerns. A melancholic, he
preferred to be surrounded by people, but due to his shy and modest nature he felt se-
cure only with a score of friends including his elder brother, his sister, his mathematics
teacher B. M. HOLMBOE (1795–1850), Mrs. C. A. B. HANSTEEN (1787–1840) — ABEL’S
benefactor and the wife of his university professor, and his mentor in Berlin A. L.
CRELLE (1780–1855). ABEL fell in love with C. KEMP (1804–1862) in 1823 and they
were engaged the following year. Unfortunately, ABEL’S position never became se-
cure enough for them to marry. The last years of ABEL’S life were spent in uncertainty
with hopes of a more stable future either at home or abroad. When he died, ABEL’S
mathematical star was still rising, and years would pass before the world knew exactly
how bright it had been.
The short and yet very creative life of ABEL has caught the interest of many bi-
ographers. Confined within the romantic period and exhibiting distinctly romantic
features itself, the biographers have often focused on ABEL’S poverty and contempo-
rary lack of acknowledgment; 1 both features frequently found in the romanticization
of mathematicians and scientists. Another genre of biography has constructed and
researched a controversy with C. G. J. JACOBI (1804–1851) over the priority of the
inversion of elliptic integrals. 2 The most recent and excellent biography written by
A. STUBHAUG (⋆1948) has taken a different angle, describing and bringing to life the
cultural and political context in which ABEL lived and which is so important for Norwegian
self-image. 3
As STUBHAUG’S book is such a convincing description of the cultural and bio-
graphical background of ABEL’S life, the present biography serves only to provide a
self-contained presentation of the temporal framework in which ABEL’S mathemati-
1 See e.g. (Bell, 1953) or, more soberly, (Ore, 1950; Ore, 1954; Ore, 1957).
2 E.g. (Bjerknes, 1880; Bjerknes, 1885; Bjerknes, 1930). This debate was also the subject of (Koenigsberger,
1879).
3 (Stubhaug, 1996), translated into English in (Stubhaug, 2000).
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