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

2.3. The European tour 29
SCHMIDTEN (1799–1831). Introducing himself in his stuttering German, ABEL called
upon the busy Geheimrath soon after his arrival in Berlin. Initially, their conversation
was staggering; only when CRELLE enquired what ABEL had already read, did he re-
alize that he was facing a young man quite versed in the modern mathematics. ABEL
presented CRELLE with a copy of his pamphlet on the insolubility of the quintic equa-
tion, and CRELLE expressed his difficulty understanding the argument. In due time,
ABEL would present CRELLE with an elaborated argument which would gain world
wide circulation.
“I am extremely pleased that I happened to go to Germany and in particular
Berlin before I came to Paris; since — as you may have learned from my letter to
Hansteen — I have made the splendid acquaintance with Geheimrath Crelle.” 36
The founding of the Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik. Communi-
cation of mathematics in the nineteenth century underwent rapid change. In the days
of EULER, mathematics had been confined to professional amateurs and academicians
who communicated their results either privately in correspondence, in monographs,
or in the periodicals of the academies. Only in the beginning of the nineteenth century
did professional, independent periodicals devoted to mathematics come into being;
ABEL was instrumental in the creation of the first major German journal of mathemat-
ics, which CRELLE founded in 1826.
When ABEL first called upon CRELLE in Berlin, they discussed the relatively low
status of mathematics in Germany (Prussia). When ABEL happened to mention his
astonishment at the lack of German periodicals devoted to mathematics, he struck a
nerve with CRELLE. For years, CRELLE had been engaged in an effort to promote
mathematics in Prussia. In France, the first journal (Annales de mathématiques pures
et appliquées) devoted entirely to mathematics had been initiated by J. D. GERGONNE
(1771–1859) in 1810. 37 In 1822, CRELLE was forced to abandon plans for a German lan-
guage journal of mathematics due to lack of contributors. 38 However, with the advent
ABEL and other promising young mathematicians — all looking for a way of pub-
lishing their results — the time was ripe for another attempt. Following an intensive
and continuing campaign to secure funding and with substantial personal investment,
CRELLE had the first volume of his Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik pub-
lished in the spring of 1826.
CRELLE’S initial idea for the Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik was to
provide a broad German speaking audience with an instrument for presenting and
keeping up to date with recent research in pure and applied mathematics — possibly
36 “Overmaade vel fornøiet er jeg fordi jeg kom til at reise til Tyskland og navnligen til Berlin førend jeg
kom til Paris; thi som Du maaskee har erfaret af mit Brev til Hansteen har jeg her gjort et fortræffeligt
Bekjendtskab med Geiheimrath Crelle.” (Abel→Holmboe, 1826/01/16. ibid., 13).
37 (Otero, 1997).
38 (W. Eccarius, 1976, 233).