Evariste Galois was born in Paris on 25th October 1811, when France was a turbulent post-Napoleonic monarchy. His family were well-educated and ardent republicans; his father the Mayor of their home suburb Bourg-la-Reine, his mother a local woman well-versed in classical studies. As a boy Evariste didn't display anything like the prodigous talents he would ultimately be reknowned for.

Aged fourteen Evariste was enrolled at the prestigous Lycee Louis-le-Grand school in Paris*. His early reports are good but not especially outstanding, doing well in classical studies but littered with comments such as "aspires to be original". However, Galois was essentially in the year above that which he should have been, and despite doing well he was forced by the headmaster Pierre Laborie to resit the year, solely because of his age.

"Intelligence can compensate for study but it cannot replace the judgement that comes only with maturity" - Laborie's report on Galois

While resitting the year, Galois came under the tutelage of mathematician Louis Richard. It so happened that the mathematics textbook used was different to the year before. Something about the new book clicked with Galois, and after reading the start he asked to borrow the book. He then read the book himself in (a perhaps apochryphal) two days, and after this his interest was fired. Richard offered him extra tuition, and together they covered a great deal of advanced work. The amazing thing about Galois at this age was his creativity: there are many child prodigies who can learn advanced mathematics at a young age, but Galois could make it. The homework solutions that Galois submitted were so insightful that Richard kept them till his dying day.

Galois came across a 300 year old problem known as the "insolubilty of the quintic". He worked on it alone and solved it. The isolation from mathematical society gave Galois an untainted canvas for his creativity - it is perhaps this that made his work so revolutionary. The ideas he used, nee created, now form the basis of higher algebra and also a massive, powerful subject now known affectionatly as Galois theory.

When Evariste was 17, his father was driven to suicide by his politcal adversaries, the monarchists. At his funeral, those who believed the rumours spread about him threw stones at the procession, resulting in Galois witnessing the coffin of his beloved father being uncerimoniously dropped. This had a profound effect on Evariste in many levels: i) It bitterly spurred on his desire to crush the monarchists. ii) It must have contributed to the depression which blighted his short life.

Galois applied twice (the maximum allowed) to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris: The only place available for him to do the kind of study he was suited to. A mix of his awesome mental power and his fiery nature (there is a strong case for Galois having Asperger's syndrome or similar autism) meant he failed entrance: He left large gaps in his working which to him were simple deductions but to an examiner appeared as errors, and when challenged with this in interview Galois became so irate that he seemingly threw the blackboard duster at one of the examiners. The second time he was refused was only two weeks after his father's death.

In the following years, Galois tried repeatedly to get his work noticed, but (and there is much debate about exactly why, whether it was too different from the norm for people to take it seriously or because of the politcial notoriety that Galois amassed) it was never acknowledged. It was not until 14 years after his death that Galois solution of the quintic problem was realised as true genius. It was forty years before the fundamental ideas that he tried to propose were recognised - perhaps testament to it's insight. Nowadays it is admired as truly mindblowing insight and astounding thought, especially when considered as work done between the ages of 17 and 20 by someone who worked autonomously. Galois wrote less than 60 pages of creative maths, yet he is one of the most influential mathematicians, and dare I say scientists, ever.

"If judged on the novelty and profundity of the ideas it contains, [Galois work] is perhaps the most substantial piece of writing in the whole history of mankind" - Herman Weyl, eminent mathematician.

Yet alongside his work, Galois was foremost member of the "Societe des amis du Peuple" (Society of the friends of the people") - an underground republican army seeking to bring about a new revolution and make France a republic. His actions saw him tried for publicly threatening the King with a knife, incarcerated for 14 months for a lesser crime, and brought about him being disowned by his only remaining parent.

The night before Galois died he wrote down as many of his ideas as he could in the hope that they would be recognised posthumously. Although many of these ideas are now appreciated, there are still some which are not understood to this day.

Galois died on Ascension Day, 1832, from a gunshot wound. He was only 20. There are many theories surrounding how it came about that Galois was shot. The most romantic involve a girl, Stephanie Potterin-Dumotel, whom Evariste is alleged to have fallen in love/become infatuated with upon coming out of prison. He was then involved in a duel with the girl's fiance. There is evidence that Galois was indeed obsessed with a woman at the time of his death. In this play however, a prominent new theory is displayed: that Galois, depressed from 3 years of disrespect, personal tragedy and unrecognition, offered himself as a martyr with the intention of it being claimed he was killed by the King's police - the barricades of 1830 arose through such a circumstance. However, after he died circumstances arose which meant starting the revolution in Galois' name was unfeasible.

"If it would take just one corpse to start the revolution, I'll give mine" - Galois 1829

*Alumni include Baudelaire, Cyrano de Bergerac, Victor Hugo, Moliere, Marquis de Sade, Voltaire, Jean-Paul Sartre, Degas, Henri Poincare, Charles Hermite, Andre Citroen, Andre Michelin, Georges Pompidou, Maximillien Robespierre and Jacques Chirac!