"The mathematical sciences have sustained a great loss in the premature death of M. Abel, whose brilliant discoveries, when quite young, raised the highest expectations of the fruits of his maturer years. Although his labours are but partially known in this country, we hope that a short account of his life will not be unacceptable to our readers. Niels Henrik Abel was born... 1802 at Frindöe... where his father was a clergyman. He showed at first no marks of genius; but at the age of 16... his extraordinary talent for mathematics at once began to develop itself, and be rapidly studied Euler's Introduction to Analysis, his Differential and Integral Calculus, the works of Lacroix, Francœur, Poisson, Gauss, and especially those of La Grange. He next entered the University of the same city. Having lost his father, and being without fortune, he availed himself of the assistance usually granted there to the poorer students; and, besides, had afterwards an allowance conferred on him by the Government. In I820 he published his first paper, intitled "A general method of finding functions of a variable quantity, a property of these functions being expressed by an equation between two variable quantities." Some time after be imagined he had succeeded in finding the general solution of equations of the fifth degree. Having perceived his error, be resolved not to desist until he had either accomplished that solution, or demonstrated the impossibility of the general solution of equations of a higher degree than the fourth. In the latter task he succeeded: his paper was printed in 1824, at Christiania, in the French language. At the recommendation of some Professors of Christiania, he now obtained from the Government an allowance for two years, in order to prosecute his studies abroad. Having spent the allotted time principally at Berlin and Paris, he returned to Christiania. During his absence from his country he published some excellent papers, among which those on Elliptic Functions, which have been honoured with the highest praise by the distinguished veteran Le Gendre, the discoverer of this branch of analysis. ...at the same time, and unknown to him, another young mathematician, Professor Jacobi of Königsberg... began to cultivate with the greatest success the same abstruse part of mathematical analysis. After his return to Christiania M. Abel had at first no regular appointment; and only a short time before his death he began to receive a fixed salary. Unfortunately, his assiduous labours, and the anxiety of mind caused by the uncertainty of his prospects, had undermined his delicate health; and his short career was suddenly terminated on the 6th of April, 1829... A very acceptable offer, made to him by the Prussian Government, of a Professorship in the University of Berlin, reached Christiania a few days after his death."