The mathematical writings of Évariste Galois
Corrected 2nd printing, September 2013
Peter M. Neumann
University of Oxford, UK
A subscription is required to access this book.
- Review in Bull. Lond. Math. Soc.“This monograph is an outstanding contribution to the history of mathematics. It surely will become a standard reference for anyone wishing to return to the source of Galois’ writings.” — Edmund F. Robertson (St. Andrews)
- Review in LMS Newsletter“This is not a biography or a ‘popular’ mathematics history; it is not a book to read cover-to-cover. However it will be of interest to many mathematicians and an indispensable reference for historians of mathematics working in this area.” — Sarah Hart (London)
- Review in MAA Reviews“This book should change, and greatly improve, our understanding of Galois’s work. That might seem an impossible claim, given the paradigm status of Galois as an abstract thinker [...] and the many versions of Galois theory that have become central to different aspects of mathematics. But in fact the great success of Galois Theory has come to obscure the work of Galois himself, and his romantic fate has cast another layer of imagery over the historical record. This book offers the chance for us to return to the original writings.” — Jeremy J. Gray (London)
- Review in Math. Gaz.“Until now there has been no systematic English translation of Galois’ writings. Here, they are presented alongside a new transcription of the original French, enhanced by three levels of commentary; Neumann discusses the possible influences on Galois, and the physical state of the manuscripts.” — Graham Hoare (Chalfont St Peter)
- Review in MathSciNet“This book, written for an English reader, provides a version of Galois’ work in French that faithfully reflects the appearance of the manuscript along with the emendations made by the author accompanied by an English translation, hitherto unavailable in most cases.” — E. J. Barbeau (Toronto)
- Review in Notices Amer. Math. Soc.“[This book] gives a mathematically knowledgeable reader a chance to follow a series of groundbreaking mathematical events, from Galois’s invention of what he needed from group theory in order to solve the problem stated in the title of the first memoir to his first steps towards establishing group theory as an independent subject, beginning with the second memoir and continuing with his determination, in the letter to Chevalier, of the exceptional permutation representations of the linear fractional groups. It’s quite a story.” — Charles W. Curtis (Eugene, OR)
- Review in zbMATH“Peter M. Neumann is not only a renowned mathematician but has also been for many years more than interested in the history of mathematics. His love in mathematics is clearly algebra and his love in the history of this topic belongs to Évariste Galois and his writings. Here is now the result of his research.” — Thomas Sonar (Braunschweig)