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On this table we have gathered the greatest Norway has had to offer the
world when it comes to culture. Here is a print made by Edvard Munch himself.
This is Henrik Ibsen's A Dolls House and it was this book Ibsen himself sent to the
printer. Here we have Edvard Griegs piano concerto in A-minor, hand written
by Grieg himself. But the story we are going to tell today is on this book right
here, and this book is forever tied to Paris.
The hero in this tale is a shy southerner who is one of very few Norwegians to
have a street named after him here in Paris, Niels Henrik Abel.
Abels story starts on the island of Finnøy where he was born and continues in
Gjerstad on the south coast of Norway where he grew up. There was nothing in
his childhood that hinted to his mathematically genius, except maybe for
one thing. He was good at predicting the weather.
He was good enough to be sent to Oslo Cathedral School and here Abel
developed his talent for mathematics. When he a few years later became a
student at the University of Oslo he was the person in Northern Europe that was
the best in mathematics. There were no one who were good enough to teach him.
The Academie des Science here in Paris was at that time the premier institute in
the world to study the natural sciences and Abel had a burning wish to come
here. He sent a personal letter to King Karl Johan and asked for support and in
1825 he was given a scholarship and could fulfil his greatest dream.
The journey first stoped in Copehagen, then on to Berlin before he in the summer
of 1826 arrived in Paris.
And here he didn't waste time. He had already started on his paper on elliptic
integrals. By October the paper was finished and handed to the Academie.
Abel now waited for an answer. If the Academie accepted his paper all his
financial troubles were over. Job's at universitys all over the world would lay
open for him. Abel's reputation as a mathematician was on the rise and
specially in Germany he was gaining fame. Here he had friends working to get
him a position at the University in Berlin.
The great mathematicians of the day like Legendre, Poisson, Fourier and Chaucy
all worked at the Academie and, unfortunately for Abel, it was Chaucy was
going to read his paper. What happened no one knows but Chaucy was known for
not prioritising others work and only concentrating on his own.
But Abel waited in vain. Chaucy never answered and now Abel had become ill.
He used the the last money he had to travel home. Here he continued waiting
while giving private lessons.
Abel and his girlfriend celebrated Christmas 1828 in the little town of
Froland. He was in good spirits and played with the children of the farm.
After a while he had to go outside for some fresh air.
He started coughing and then coughed blood. He had gotten tuberculosis.
Abel understood that he didn't have long left and that the Paris-paper was lost. He
was bedridden but managed to write down what we today call Abel's Addition Theorem.
He became worse and worse even though he was getting the best care possible.
One of the house maids stayed with him night and day but on the 6th of April 1829
Abel died only 26 years old.
To days later he was given a position at the university in Berlin.
And this is the notebook Abel used in Paris
I don't think anyone will disagree that Munch, Ibsen and Grieg are mainstays of
Norwegian culture but it is our opinion that we have one more person who
should be recognised in the same way, Niels Henrik Abel.