Galois through Sophie Germain's eyes -----------------------------
A letter dated April 18, 1831, addressed to her fellow mathematician Guglielmo (or Guillaume) Libri (1803–1869), offers some insight into Sophie Germain's opinion of "that student Gallois" (sic.). The following excerpt reproduces the spelling and punctuation of the original as printed in the July–December 1879 issue of the Revue philosophique de la France et de l’étranger.
"decidedly, there is a curse on everything connected with mathematics your troubles Cauchy's, the death of mr fourier and to cap it all this student Gallois who despite his impertinence showed great promise, has behaved so badly that he has been expelled from the ecole normale, he has no money and his mother has very little. back at home he continued to abuse her as he habitually did, and gave you yourself a taste of it after your excellent reading at the academy, The poor lady has left her home leaving this son enough to live on modestly and has been forced to take a position as a lady's companion out of necessity. They say that he will go completely mad and I fear they are right."
This final sentence gives some idea of the reputation Évariste had acquired among those who had taken an interest in his research.
By the time Sophie Germain wrote this letter, Évariste had been expelled from the École normale, served as an artilleryman in the National Guard, and roamed the streets from one demonstration to the next, protesting and plotting; three weeks later, on May 9, at the Vendanges de Bourgogne banquet, he would raise a toast to Louis-Philippe that every newspaper would report.