"He was the first Hungarian mathematician who created something world famous (according to Lórand Eötvös). Unfortunately there is no picture remaining that shows this scientist-giant, therefore the new generations cannot become familiar with his features. The only source describing his appearance is his passport (made when he was 48): he was average-built, blue-eyed and had a long face." (Elemér Kiss)

Click on the images or on the underline texts! After a few second appears an original computer animation.

Here is the picture of the only authentic relief of János Bolyai on the front of the Culture Palace in Marosvásárhely (Roumania):

1802. Kolozsvár – 1860. Marosvásárhely

"From descriptions of his age we may learn what he looked like. We know that he wore a dark brown beard, his hair was the same colour, his eyes were dark blue. According to József Koncz (history-writer of College of Marosvásárhely) János Bolyai looked very much like general György Klapka. Another important fact: his son, Dénes Bolyai stated that there is a huge resemblance between him and his father. Indeed, all the photos of György Klapka as well as the ones of Dénes Bolyai show a bearded man. Also obvious are the similar features. This seems to support the correctness of the above statements. But there is more: I went on to photograph the front of the Culture Palace in Marosvásárhely where there are 6 reliefs of famous scientists of the last century. The subtitles show the names of the men (from left): Elek Dósa, Sámuel Teleki, Farkas Bolyai, János Bolyai, Ferenc Mentovich and István Pentelei. We have authentic photos of all of them except János Bolyai. Comparing them one by one with the reliefs I found that they were perfectly identical.

Another fascinating finding was that looking at the portraits of György Klapka and Dénes Bolyai and the relief of János Bolyai it seems as if they were showing the same person. The Culture Palace was built between 1911 and 1913. At that time there were people living in the town who knew or saw János Bolyai, including his son, Dénes Bolyai. It would have been unimaginable for the artist not to consult the son of his model for lack of an authentic portrait." (Tibor Weszely)

"An alleged portrait of János Bolyai appeared on Rumanian and Hungarian stamps in 1960, made based the painting of Mór Adler. The picture had also been published elsewhere but it has been discovered later that it was not original, it was not the portrait of János Bolyai." (Tibor Weszely)

NOT the portrait of János Bolyai that has been spread around the world. (Mór Adler's painting)

"Who is really portrayed by Mór Adler on the picture painted in 1864? János Bolyai's name does not appear on the original painting. A copy of the painting had been drawn by Károly Linzdorf and he decided to write the name on it. The painting and the drawing are the property of the János Bolyai Mathematical Association.
How did the picture get there? Nobody knows exactly. Some of the older generation seem to remember that it had been given to the Association by some kind of military organization, together with the drawing." (personal information from Dr.András Prékopa)

	Preface
	Summary

The strange spiritual affinity between Elemér Kiss and János Bolyai is expressed in the language of the mathematics, by the following congruences. It is extraordinary that -considering their ages- they both belong to the same congruence class. The fact that this spiritual affinity has been written using the language of number theory, may not be a coincidence either.
(T.Dénes T.)