Évariste Galois

1811 (Bourg-La-Reine, France) – 1832 (Paris)

Cauchy received from Galois, still in his teens, a memoir on equation theory, and was impressed enough to suggest he send it to Fourier so it could be considered for a prize. However Fourier died and the moment was lost. Poisson later invited Galois to send a copy to him, but found it unclear, and by the time Galois received the response, he was in prison for revolutionary activities (and died very soon after, after a duel and in unclear circumstances).