Page "Évariste Galois" Paragraph 14

Galois returned to mathematics after his expulsion from the École Normale, although he continued to spend time in political activities.

After his expulsion became official in January 1831, he attempted to start a private class in advanced algebra which attracted some interest, but this waned, as it seemed that his political activism had priority.

Simeon Poisson asked him to submit his work on the theory of equations, which he did on 17 January.

Around 4 July, Poisson declared Galois ' work " incomprehensible ", declaring that " argument is neither sufficiently clear nor sufficiently developed to allow us to judge its rigor "; however, the rejection report ends on an encouraging note: " We would then suggest that the author should publish the whole of his work in order to form a definitive opinion.

" While Poisson's report was made before Galois ' Bastille Day arrest, it took until October to reach Galois in prison.

It is unsurprising, in the light of his character and situation at the time, that Galois reacted violently to the rejection letter, and decided to abandon publishing his papers through the Academy and instead publish them privately through his friend Auguste Chevalier.

Apparently, however, Galois did not ignore Poisson's advice, began collecting all his mathematical manuscripts while still in prison, and continued polishing his ideas until his release on 29 April 1832.