Abel, Niels Henrik definition of Abel, Niels Henrik in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Abel, Niels Henrik (nēls hĕn`rĭk ä`bəl), 1802–29, Norwegian mathematician. While a student at the Univ. of Christiania (Oslo) he did fundamental work on the integration of functional expressions and proved the impossiblity of representing a solution of a general equation of fifth degree or higher by a radical expression. He investigated generalizations of the binomial theorem, pioneered in the general theory of elliptic functions, and showed that elliptic functions are a generalization of trigonometric functions. Commutative groups group, in mathematics, system consisting of a set of elements and a binary operation a+b defined for combining two elements such that the following requirements are satisfied: (1) The set is closed under the operation; i.e.
..... Click the link for more information. are also called Abelian groups in his honor. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26, leaving contributions that rank him as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 19th cent.

Bibliography

See O. Ore, Niels Henrik Abel: Mathematician Extraordinary (1957, repr. 1973).