General Knowledge · 2
Which French mathematician spent his final night before a fatal 1832 duel frantically writing down his mathematical theories?
Answer
Évariste Galois
Évariste Galois, anticipating he might die in a duel, spent the night of May 29, 1832 writing out his ideas on what would become group theory. He died the next day from his wounds, aged 20.
💡 Did you know?
Evariste Galois solved an unsolved mathematical problem the night before his fatal duel (1832), writing frantically on paper.
Other options people guess
- Niels Abel
- Bernhard Riemann
- Augustin-Louis Cauchy
Topics
- mathematics
- history
- biography
- 19th-century
Know your general knowledge trivia?
Play a free General Knowledge quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.
More General Knowledge facts
General Knowledge
In what year did a 20-year-old mathematician write out his theories overnight before dying in a duel the next day?
Evariste Galois solved an unsolved mathematical problem the night before his fatal duel (1832), writing frantically on paper.
General Knowledge
Which New York inventor patented the safety pin in 1849?
The safety pin was patented in 1849 by a New York inventor who sold the patent rights for $400 to pay off a debt.
General Knowledge
For how much did Walter Hunt sell the rights to his 1849 safety pin patent?
The safety pin was patented in 1849 by a New York inventor who sold the patent rights for $400 to pay off a debt.
General Knowledge
In 1945, what food item melted in a Raytheon engineer's pocket while he stood near an active radar set, sparking the invention of the microwave oven?
The microwave oven was invented by accident when a Raytheon engineer's chocolate bar melted near a radar machine in 1945.
General Knowledge
What property of honey allows it to remain edible for thousands of years without refrigeration or preservatives?
Honey never spoils. Archaeologists found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs that was still perfectly edible.
General Knowledge
Which element, symbol Au, is named after the Latin word for the city of Rome's most enduring metal trade?
All the gold ever mined in human history would fit into a cube roughly 21 meters on each side — about the size of a four-story building.