Abel, Niels Henrik 1802-1829.
Norwegian mathematician. He demonstrated that
the general quintic equation
ax^5 + bx^4 + cx^3 + dx^2 + ex + f = 0 could
not be solved algebraically. Subsequent work
covered elliptic functions, integral
equations, infinite series, and the binomial
theorem. He lived a life of poverty and ill
health, dying of tuberculosis shortly before
the arrival of an offer of a postion at the
University of Berlin.

Subject by: Russell Webb