The mysteries surrounding Galois's life -------------------------------------
Because it leaves so many questions unanswered for Galois's biographers, the mathematician's life remains fertile hunting ground, with plenty still to uncover. Moreover, large-scale archival digitization projects at various institutions are putting a wealth of material within reach of "treasure hunters." On his website, Jacques Cassabois, author of Je n’ai pas le temps, le roman tumultueux d’Évariste Galois (Hlabs Eds, 2019), recounts a recent discovery in the École polytechnique archives (see opposite). Olivier Courcelle is another seasoned archival sleuth, well known to readers of the Images des maths website, where he has already shared several hypotheses backed up by recent finds.
The thrill of discovery -----------------------------
"We knew that the 1829 Polytechnique entrance examination had taken place in August, but there was no way of finding out the exact dates. Yet I needed them to organize my account of this particularly eventful month, full of decisive events, and the books about Évariste that I had read did not mention this detail (you will soon see why). Wanting to get to the bottom of it, I contacted the École polytechnique archives. But I drew a blank. I was told that this information did not exist. However, the person I spoke to was very helpful, […] and invited me to come and consult the archives for that period if I wished!