Editing János Bolyai (section)

==Personal life==
He was an accomplished linguist, speaking several foreign [[language]]s beside his native Hungarian, these being [[German language|German]], [[Latin]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]]. He learned the violin and performed in Vienna.<ref>Elemér, Kiss, [http://mek.oszk.hu/05300/05321/05321.pdf "Matematikai kincsek Bolyai János kéziratos hagyatékából"]</ref>

{{quote|It is related of him that he was challenged by thirteen officers of his garrison, a thing not unlikely to happen considering how differently he thought from everyone else. He fought them all in succession—making it his only condition that he should be allowed to play on his violin for an interval between meeting each opponent. He disarmed or wounded all his antagonists. It can be easily imagined that a temperament such as his was not one congenial to his military superiors. He was retired in 1833.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hinton|first1=Charles Howard|author-link1=Charles Howard Hinton|title=The Fourth Dimension|date=1912|orig-year=1904|publisher=[[Allen & Unwin|G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.]]|location=London|page=46| url=https://archive.org/stream/fourthdimension00hintarch#page/46/}} Sources cited, p. 41. Entire chapter V, "The Second Chapter in the History of Four Space", pp. 41–60, provides accessible, illustrated introduction to his life and work.</ref>}}
 
No original portrait of Bolyai survives. An unauthentic picture appears in some encyclopedias and on a Hungarian postage stamp.<ref name=amsNotices />