Love, politics and the Galois tragedy

Love makes people immortal, teaches them how to love, and from love comes the inspiration to build the world. Love is sacred, love is beautiful, but it can also turn cruel. Love lays out the net of betrayal and destroys human lives. How many lives are lost each year due to the betrayal of love—who keeps count? The love and betrayal of ordinary people may not have much impact on society. A betrayed lover may end his life in an obscure corner of a city or in a remote village, and the world doesn’t bat an eyelid. But if a life is lost to deceitful love — a life to whom mathematics, science or the world itself is indebted — then the tragic tale of that betrayal-stained love cannot be erased from the earth even after ages or centuries have passed.

The French mathematician Evariste Galois lost his life at the age of just 20, a victim of dirty politics and a trap of betrayal. He is remembered to this day as a “mathematician of a single night,” and the world still bows its head in his memory. Galois’s love story may not be as widely known as the fantasy romances of Shirin-Farhad or Laila-Majnu, but the blind love he once held is no less astonishing than any legend. What he did in his short 20-year life might not have ensured remembrance by the world. But what he did on the night before his death is now history in the world of mathematics.

At that time, France was in political turmoil. On one side was the monarchy, and on the other the allure of the republic. Ordinary French citizens were lost amidst this tug of war. This deeply impacted the young mind of Galois. He developed a fierce hatred for injustice.

By nature, he was a calm and gentle person, but at the age of 16, a profound change occurred in him. Galois became obsessed with mathematics, only mathematics. While eating, sitting, sleeping, or in class, his mind swirled with mathematics. New mathematical problems would arise in his brain. He would solve them by himself; not with pen and paper, but by storing them line by line in his memory. But mathematics isn’t something to be confined to one's own head. It is a divine tool to uncover the mysteries of nature. Keeping it locked in the memory does no good. So, gradually, he began to jot some things down on paper. He started composing research papers. At the age of just 17, his first research paper was published in a renowned mathematics journal.

Galois wanted to write more, to publish many novel mathematical solutions. Very soon, he prepared two more mathematical papers. They were published, and caught the attention of another giant of mathematical history, Augustin-Louis Cauchy. Impressed by Galois, Cauchy wanted him to receive the top prize from France’s “Academy of Sciences.” But the judges objected. The reason was political. Galois’s father, Nicolas Galois, was a republican politician, a staunch opponent of the recently ousted monarchy. He was immensely popular. But the republic in France did not last long and the monarchy returned. Even so, Nicolas’s popularity did not wane. Amidst the monarchy’s resurgence, he was elected mayor of his city.

Nicolas was also known as a man of culture. He wrote brilliant poetry. It was through this poetry that he was attacked. Monarchists began publishing obscene poems in the mayor’s name. Humiliated and ashamed, Nicolas committed suicide to quench the fire in his heart. His father’s death left Galois enraged and unhinged. He didn’t attend the funeral. Instead, he, along with some radical republican supporters from the neighbourhood, attacked the monarchists. The funeral turned into a riot!

After his father’s death, political revenge again cost him a prize. As a result, Galois lost interest in his work. He almost gave up on mathematics entirely and became increasingly involved in republican politics.

In 1830, all of France was again in turmoil with anti-monarchy protests. Galois, having completed his studies, joined the “National Republican Guard.” But within a short time, the organisation was banned. The consequences were dire; republican politics leaned increasingly toward militancy. The irascible Galois became more reckless. He publicly threatened to kill the French emperor. He wandered the streets wearing the banned uniform of the “National Republican Guard.” Charges were filed against him. He was sentenced to six months in prison. After serving the sentence, he returned home; but by then, he had become even more unrestrained. Excessive drinking, uncontrolled rage, anger, despair — these broke him completely.

At this time, spring unexpectedly came into his life. Stephanie Felicie, a famous Parisian woman, extended a hand of affection toward him. Galois’s chaotic life seemed to come alive again; but one question remained. People whispered: why would a renowned doctor like Stephanie fall for a vagabond, eccentric, alcoholic youth like Galois? No one had an answer. Stephanie was the fiance of a wealthy Parisian. The idea of one’s future bride loving another man would wound any man’s pride. In those days in France, such a thing was considered a tremendous disgrace and humiliation. Stephanie’s lover’s masculinity was bruised.

To soothe the pain of humiliation, he challenged Galois to a duel. Galois accepted the invitation without hesitation. It was the custom of that time; if someone had a clash with another, a duel would be proposed. And real men could not decline such invitations. To refuse was to accept social mockery and defeat. Galois was not one to back down. But alas, he didn’t even know how to shoot a pistol! In those days, duels were fought with pistols. The two participants would face each other closely. The one more skilled and quicker to draw from the waist would wear the victor’s garland.

And for the loser, there was no alternative but death. Galois did accept the duel, but he knew his limitations. The hand that wielded the pen to produce torrents of mathematical equations could not wield a pistol. But to him, self-respect was greater than life itself. He didn’t want to hear the taunts of others by rejecting the proposal. Galois knew death was inevitable for him. Having chased mathematics all his life, would all his discoveries vanish from the face of the earth along with his death? So, on the night before the duel, he wrote down all the formulas and solutions stored in his memory on paper.

Galois spent the entire night awake. He filled reams of paper with formulas, theories, and equations. And amidst those theories, from time to time, he absent-mindedly wrote down his lover’s name. Writing through the night, he finally finished before dawn. He placed the writings in an envelope and mailed them to a friend—along with a letter requesting that, in the event of his death in the duel, these works be delivered to Europe’s leading mathematicians.

May 30, 1830. As expected, Galois and Stephanie’s fiance appeared at the duel ground. A large crowd watched. Both raised their pistols at each other. The result was inevitable—one shot was all it took to end the life of the extraordinary mathematician Evariste Galois. His works on mathematics were left behind. During Galois’s funeral, riots broke out again across the city. Rumours spread that Stephanie had betrayed Galois, had never truly loved him. She had lured him into a trap, into a staged love drama to push him toward the duel ground. The man he fought was allegedly not even Stephanie’s fiance, but a professional killer.

In truth, a perfect script had been crafted to assassinate Galois, and the monarchists succeeded. Galois’s friend kept his promise. He delivered those last-night writings to the top mathematicians of Europe. One copy reached the mathematician Joseph Liouville. He was able to understand Galois’s mathematical theories accurately. Decoding each theory properly, he arranged for their publication in France’s top journals. They were published. By then, 10 years had passed since Galois’s death. The great mathematicians of the world realised, with wonder-filled hearts, the grandeur of a young mathematician’s final night.

Abdul Gaffar Roni: Science writer