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

2.3. The European tour 35
2.3.4 The European detour
During February 1826, CRELLE’S possibilities to go to Göttingen crumbled and ABEL’S
plans for the rest of the tour changed. Complaining repeatedly of his melancholic
nature, ABEL hesitated and stalled at the prospect of travelling to Paris alone. Instead,
his Norwegian friends presented an inviting alternative. With their interests largely
in geology, the Norwegian travelling entourage made it for the Alps, and ABEL chose
to join them. His defence of this less-than-obvious decision can be read in a very
charming letter to HANSTEEN:
“Can I then be blamed for wanting to see some of the southern life. During my
journey I can work quite hard. Once I am in Vienna and on the road to Paris, the
straight route almost passes through Switzerland. Why should I not also see a bit
of that country. My lord! I am not completely without feelings for the beauty of
Nature. The entire trip will postpone my arrival in Paris by two months and that
does no harm. I will catch up. Do you not think that I would benefit from such a
journey?” 58
The reaction of the sponsor HANSTEEN can only be imagined.
On his detour through Europe, ABEL did continue working on his mathematics,
and he called upon the local mathematicians where he could. In Vienna, ABEL brought
a letter of introduction from CRELLE to the mathematician K. L. VON LITTROW (1811–
1877) at the observatory. His encounter with LITTROW was perhaps the only strictly
mathematical benefit gained from the detour itself; mediated by LITTROW, ABEL man-
aged to circulate his result on the insolubility of the quintic equation in an even wider
(albeit still German speaking) audience. 59
2.3.5 Isolation in Paris
When ABEL eventually arrived in Paris in the summer of 1826, he found the mathe-
matical scene abandoned: Most of the Paris mathematicians had left the city for the
countryside. However, ABEL made a brief call to LEGENDRE, whom he described as “a
really excellent old man”. 60 ABEL later met with CAUCHY without having more than a
brief and non-technical conversation with him. Besides the opportunity to meet with
the Parisian mathematicians, ABEL saw in the famous Académie des Sciences a possibil-
ity for presenting his research. Before he left Norway, he had prepared a paper on the
58 “Kan man da fortænke mig i at jeg ønsker ogsaa at see lidt af Sydens Liv og Færden. Paa min Reise
kan jeg jo arbeide temmelig brav. Er jeg nu engang i Wien og jeg skal derfra til Paris saa gaaer jo
den lige Vei næsten igjennem Schweitz. Hvorfor skulde jeg da ikke ogsaa see lidt deraf? Herre Gud!
Jeg er dog ikke uden al Sands for Naturens Skjønheder. Den hele Reise vil gjøre at jeg kommer to
Maaneder senere til Paris end ellers og det gjør da ikke noget. Jeg skal nok hente det ind igjen. Troer
de ikke at jeg vil have godt af en saadan Reise?” (Abel→Hansteen, Dresden, 1826/03/29. ibid., 24).
59 ABEL had his article from CRELLE’S Journal reviewed anonymously in the newly founded Vienna
based journal Zeitschrift für Physik und Mathematik (Anonymous, 1826). The review will be described
in part II.
60 (ABEL to HOLMBOE, Paris 1826.8.12, (N. H. Abel, 1902a, 40))