who, at the age of 19, proved that the general equation of degree greater than 4 is not solvable by radicals. In other words, there can be no formula for the roots of such an equation similar to the familiar formula for a quadratic equation. He was also responsible for fundamental developments in the theory of algebraic functions. He died in some poverty at the age of 26, just a few days before he would have received a letter announcing his appointment to a professorship in Berlin.