Parliamentary Professor

When Sophus Lie returned to Christiania in December 1870, he was immediately a great topic of conversation: the Norwegian scholar and scientist who had spent time in a French prison, mistaken for a German spy! And Lie himself was more than forthcoming about his experiences, at least at the beginning. An aura of celebrity and sensation enveloped him — the mighty conqueror of the mountain tracks and the suspected spy who was also involved in a mathematics that was incomprehensible to most people. From this period many anecdotal stories attached themselves to Sophus Lie’s name, something that he himself came to fear, would stand in the way of his significance as a mathematician in people’s eyes.