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Niels Abel
Recognition Too Late
(1802 - 1829)
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Niels Abel Niels Abel was lucky to get a teacher who could recognize great talent and point him to the right direction. After teaching him fundamentals, he gave young Abel the most influential mathematic publication of the time: Gauss' Disquisitiones Arithtmeticae.

When Abel was 18 he took on the most popular problem at the time: quantic equation. Genius had a different approach: what if the equation has no algebraic solution? Very soon he was able to prove his hypothesis, but many influential mathematicians of the time refused to look at the proof considering it another desperate attempt to solve what biggest minds couldn't.

At 23 he had decided to travel to Paris and "conquer" Europe by applying to various positions and sending his works to influential mathematicians. Very soon he found out that he had tuberculosis. That only gave him more strength to put his written works in order and to finish them.

One day after he died at 27, he received an acceptance letter from Berlin University for a math professor position.