Evariste Galois. 1811-1832, Laura Toti Rigatelli (ISBN 978-3-7643-5410-7, Birkhäuser)

I found this biography of Evariste Galois after reading about him in Eric Temple Bell’s Men of Mathematics. It is part of the Vita Mathematica series of the publisher with biographies of mathematicians, most of them published in German. The author is an Italian professor in mathematics with a special interest in the history of algebra. Galois made ground breaking contributions to algebra and his short life was mostly lived in the turbulent years after the defeat and exile of Napoleon. France was split between the royalists and supporters of the ideals of the Revolution. Galois’ father had been a supporter of Napoleon so from that point of view it was maybe not surprising that later in life would join a movement trying to overthrow the government of the returned Kings. The book is as short as Galois’ life, not even 140 pages with the last chapter of 25 pages dealing with the mathematical work of Galois. The preceding 110 pages deal with the other aspects of his life, covering his early childhood and schooling where he discovered mathematics. While still a student Galois made his groundbreaking contributions to mathematics but mostly failed to get them published. His other dream to enter the Ecole Polytechnique also failed and a disillusioned Galois focused on his revolutionary activities, in the end sacrificing in himself in vain for the cause. This biography deals mostly with political circumstances in France during Galois’ life but it manages to sketch who evariste Galois was as a child and young adult. A short book that leaves you wondering what could have been if Galois had lived past 20.