The tragic tale of Évariste Galois (1811–1832), a mathematical prodigy who died in a duel at the tender age of 20, is one of the more dramatic stories in the history of mathematics.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/5675.jpg?resize=123%2C150&ssl=1)
Most people owe what they know about Galois to a stirring account written in 1937 by mathematician Eric Temple Bell in his book Men of Mathematics. In a chapter titled “Genius and Stupidity,” he described the young Galois and his tormented state of mind on the night before the ill-fated duel.