Évariste Galois

Évariste Galois is a French mathematician known for his foundational contributions to group theory and what is now called Galois theory, which determines when algebraic equations can be solved by radicals. While still in his teens, he developed the insight that the solvability of a polynomial equation depends on the structure of its associated Galois group. His work was repeatedly rejected or lost by the French Academy of Sciences, and he spent time in prison for republican political activism before dying in a duel at age 20 in 1832. His manuscripts were posthumously published in 1846, establishing him as a pioneer of abstract algebra.