Niels Henrik Abel

Niels Henrik Abel (August 5, 1802–April 6, 1829), Norwegian mathematician, was born in Finnøy. In 1815 he entered the cathedral school at Christiania (as Oslo was then called), and three years later he gave proof of his mathematical genius by his brilliant solutions of the original problems proposed by Bernt Holmboe. About this time, his father Lance, a poor Protestant minister, died, and the family was left in straitened circumstances; but a small pension from the state allowed Abel to enter Christiania University in 1821.

Trivia

• April 6, 1929 — Four Norwegian stamps issued for the centenary of his death.
• June 5, 2002 — Four Norwegian stamps issued in honour of Abel two months before the bicentenary of his birth.

There is a statue of Abel in Oslo. He is believed to be the only mathematician to have been portrayed in the nude.

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